Season and Field preparation

Soil

Sandy loam soil rich in organic matter with good drainage is suitable. The pH ranging from 6.5 - 7.5 is found ideal.

Season

June- July and December- January are suitable seasons.

Seed rate

1.0 kg /ha of seeds required

Seed treatment

Soak the seeds in double the quantity of water for 30 minutes and incubate for 6 days. Treat the seeds with Azospirillum just before sowing.

Sowing

Sow the seeds (five seeds/pit) and thin the seedlings to two/pit after 15 days of planting.

Spacing

Pits of 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm size are dug at a spacing of 2 m x 2 m.

Application of fertilizers

Apply 10 kg of FYM (20 t/ha) and 100 g of NPK 6:12:12 mixture as basal and 10 g of N per pit after 30 days of planting. Apply Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg/ha such and Pseudomonas 2.5 kg/ha along with FYM 50 kg and neem cake @ 100 kg before last ploughing.

After cultivation

Weeding is done thrice. Spray Ethrel 250 ppm (2.5 ml per 10 lit of water) four times at weekly intervals commencing from 10 to 15 days after sowing.

Quality seedling production

Nursery raising

In hi-tech horticulture, use 12 days old healthy seedlings obtained from shade net houses for planting. Raise the seedlings in protrays having 98 cells. Use well decomposed coco peat as medium. Sow one seed per cell. Water regularly twice a day.