Season and Field preparation

Soil

It comes up well in all types of friable soils. The suitable soil pH is 6.0-7.0. It is considered to be a cool weather crop.

Season

It is planted during July – August.

Seed rate

About 6 kg seeds are required for a hectare.

Preparation of field

The land is ploughed to a fine tilth and ridges and furrows are formed at 30 cm apart.

Sowing

Sow the seeds directly in ridges at a spacing of 10 cm.

Irrigation

Irrigate the field copiously immediately after sowing and afterwards as and when necessary.

Drip irrigation

Install the drip system with main and sub main pipes and place the inline lateral tubes at an interval of 1.5 m. Place the drippers in lateral tubes at an interval of 60 cm and 50cm spacing with 4 LPH and 3.5 LPH capacities respectively. Form the raised beds at 120 cm width at an interval of 30cm and place the laterals at the centre of each bed.

Application of fertilizers

Apply FYM at 20 t/ha and 60:160:100 kg of NPK/ha as basal and 60 kg N/ha after 30 days.

Fertigation

Fertigation requirement: 120:160:100kg / ha

Spacing

30 x30 x10 cm as four rows in each paired row / raised bed system.

Fertigation schedule

Recommended Dose: 120:160:100 kg/ha

After cultivation

After 20 days sowing, thinning is done to leave single seedling per hill.