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Millets - Finger millet / Ragi (Elusine coracana) |
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I. SEASONS AND VARIETIES
VARIETIES Irrigated i.Marghazhipattam (December-January) Kancheepuram,Tiruvallur,Vellore & Tiruvannamalai CO 11, CO7, CO 18 Cuddalore, Villupuram VCO7, CO 11, CO 12, CO.13 Thanjavur,Tiruvarur,Nagapattinam CO 11, TRY1, CO 13 Tiruchirapalli, Perambalur,Karur,Pudukottai CO 11, CO 7, TRY 1 Madurai,Dindigul,Theni, Tirunelveli,Thoothukudi CO 11, CO 7, K7 Sivaganga, ,Thoothukudi CO 11, K5, K7 Salem,Namakkal,Dharmapuri CO 11, CO 7, CO 12, CO 13 Erode, Coimbatore CO 11, CO 12, CO 7, CO 13 ii.Chithiraipattam (April-May) Kancheepuram,Tiruvallur, Vellore CO 11, K7 Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchirapalli, Perambalur,, Karur,Pudukottai,Tirunelveli, Cuddalore, Villupuram CO 11, CO 12, K7, CO 13 Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam CO 11 Thoothukudi, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar CO 11, K5,K7 Salem,Namakkal, Dharmapuri CO 11, CO 7, CO 12, CO 13 Coimbatore, Erode CO 11, CO 7, CO 12, CO 13 Rainfed i.Adipattam (June-July) All districts except Kanyakumari and The Nilgiris CO 11, CO 7,CO 12, Paiyur-1 Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamali, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, Erode INDAF 5 Kancheepuram,.Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchirapalli, Perambalur, Karur, Salem, Namakkal, Pudukottai, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, Erode, Sivaganga K7 ii.Puratasipattam(September-October) Kancheepuram,Tiruvallur, Vellore, Torivannamalai CO 11 Cuddalore, Villupuram CO 11, CO 12 Thanjavur,Tiruvarur. Nagapattinam CO 11 Tiruchirapalli, Perambalur,Karur,Madurai,Dindigul,Theni CO 11, CO 7, K7 Pudukottai CO11, CO 7 Ramnad, Sivaganga,Virudhunagar CO 11. K5, K7 Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi CO11, K7 Salem,Namakkal,Dharmapuri CO 11,CO 7, Paiyur 1, CO 12 Coimbatore,Erode CO 11, CO 7, CO 12, CO 13,INDAF 5
II. PARTICULARS OF RAGI STRAINS
Parentage Selection from variety PR722 Pureline Saradax EC 158 Selection from HR374 Cauvery xIE929 Duration(days) 110-120 115-120 105 102 105-110 Season Rainfed/Irrigated Both(Northern districts) Rainfed Both Khariff irrigated Sodic/Saline soils Adipattam /Both Grain yield kg/ha Irrigated 4750 .. 1800 4011 4000 Rainfed 3250 3125 1100 .. 2500 Straw yield kg/ha Irrigated 8750 .. 3000 6800 7500 Rainfed 6250 5750 2000 .. 5200 Stem Erect Erect Erect Erect Erect Height(cm) 90-120 110 100-120 .. 85-95 Tillers 5-7 6-8 8-9 5-8 6-8 Days to 50% flowering 70-75 80 70 78 70-75 Ear size and shape Incurved to fisty Open Incurved Incurved Open, Incurved Fingers 5-7 6-8 7-9 5-8 6-8 Ear length(cm) 8 8 7-8 7.6 7.5 Grain colour Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown 1000grain wt(g) 2.8 2.7 2.57 2.74 2.0 Parentage Cauvery xIE929 Pureline CO8xK2 CO7xTAH Duration(days) 105-110 100 90-95 95-100 95-100 Season Rainfed/Irrigated Adipattam /Both Irrigated Irrigated Both Both Grain yield kg/ha Irrigated 4000 4500 4750 .. 3600 Rainfed 2500 2750 3250 3130 2300 Straw yield kg/ha Irrigated 7500 7500 8750 .. 10000 Rainfed 5200 5000 6250 5750 7500 Stem Erect Erect Erect Erect .. Height(cm) 85-95 100-120 90-120 110 85-90 Tillers 6-8 5-6 5-7 1-3 3-5 Days to 50% flowering 70-75 70-75 80 55-60 55-60 Ear size and shape Open, Incurved Incurved Incurved to fisty Open Open Fingers 6-8 7-9 5-7 6-8 10-17 Ear length(cm) 7.5 7-8 11 8 .. Grain colour Brown Brown Brown Brown Light Brown 1000grain wt(g) 2.0 2.57 2.8 2.7 1.7
III. PREPARATION OF NURSERY (IRRIGATED TRANSPLANTED CROPS)
1. PREPARATION OF LAND
i. For raising seedlings to plant one ha of mainfield,select 12.5 cents (500m2) of nursery area near a water source, where water does not stagnate.
ii. Mix 37.5 kg of super phosphate with 500Kg of FYM or compost and spread the mixture evenly on the nursery area.
iii. Plough twoorthree times witha mould board plough orfive times with a country plough.
2. FORMING RAISED BED
i. Mark units of 6 plots each of size 3m x 1.5 m. Provide 30 cm space between plots for irrigation.
ii. Excavate the soil from the interspace and all around to a depth of 15 cm to form channels and spread the soil removed from the channels on the bed and level.
3.PRE-TREATMENT OF THE SEEDS WITH FUNGICIDES
i. Mix the seeds ina polythene bag to ensure a uniform coating of seeds with Psudomonas sp. 2gr./kg of seeds.
ii. Seed treatment with Azospirillum may be done @ 3 packets/ha (600g/ha)
4.SOWING AND COVERING THE SEEDS
i. Make shallow rills not deeper than one cmonthe beds by passing the fingers vertically over them.
ii. Broadcast 5 kg of treated seeds evenly on the beds.
iii. Cover the seeds by levelling out the hand lightly over the soil.
iv. Sprinkle 500 kg of powdered FYM over the beds evenly to cover the seeds which are exposed and compact the surface lightly.
NOTE: Do not sow the seeds deep as germination will be adversely affected.
5.WATER MANAGEMENT
i. Provide one inlet to each nursery unit.
ii. Allow water to enter through the inlet and cover all the channels around the beds. Allow the water in the channels to raise till the raised beds are wet anb then cut off water.
iii. Adjust the frequency of irrigation according to the soil type.
1st Immediately after sowing Immediately after sowing 2nd 3rd day after sowing 4th day after sowing 3rd 7th day after sowing 9th day after sowing 4th 12th day after sowing 16th day after sowing 5th 17th day after sowing .. NOTE: 1.One irrigation is given onthe 3rd day in the case of red soil to soften the hard crust formed on the soil surface and also to facilitate seedlings to emerge out.2. Do not allow cracks to develop in the nursery bed by properly adjusting the quantity of irrigation water.
7.PROTECTION OF THE SEEDLINGS IN THE NURSERY FROM PESTS AND DISEASES
i. Spray neem kernal extract 5% to the Nursery. Repet the same if needed.Spray Psudomonas sp. at 2gr./lit of water.
8.PULLING OUT THE SEEDLINGS FOR PLANTING
Pull out seedlings on the 17th to 20th day of sowing for planting.
IV. PREPARATION OF MAIN FIELD
1. PLOUGHING THE FIELD
Plough twice with mould board plough or thrice with wooden plough till a good tilth is obtained.
2.APPLICATION OF FYM OR COMPOST
Spread 12.5 t/ha of FYM or compost or composted coir pith evenly onthe unploughed field and then plough and incorporate in the soil.
NOTE: Do not spread and leave the manure uncovered in the field as nutrients will be lost.
3.APPLICATION OF FETILIZERS
1. Soil test based fertilizer recommendations may be adopted in Western and North Western Zones in soils of Vertisols, Alfisols, Inceptisols and Entisols for prescribing the fertilizer doses for specified yield targets. In soils having high intensive cropping system viz., Ragi-Maize-Cowpea, having high soil available K (310 kg/ha) potassium need not be applied. Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendation as far as possible. If soil test recommendation is noa vailable, adopt a blanket recommendationof 60 kg N, 30 kg P2O5 and 30 kg K2O per ha.
ii. Apply half the dose of N and full dose of N and full dose of P2O5 basally before planting.
iii. Broadcast the fertilizer mixture over the field before the last ploughing and incorporate into the soil by working a country plough.
iv. Apply 10 packets/ha (2000g) of Azospirillum inoculant after mixing with 25 kg of soil and 25 kg of FYM before trnasplanting.
4.FORMING BEDS AND CHANNELS
i. Form beds of size 10 m2 to 20 m2 according to topography of the field.
ii. Provide suitable irrigationchannels.
5.APPLICATION OF MICRONUTRIENT MIXTURE
i. Mix 12.5 kg. of micronutrient mixture formulated by the Department of Agriculture, Tamilnadu with enough sand to make a total quality of 50 kg/ha.
ii. Applythe mixture evenlyon the beds.
iii. Do not incorporate the mixture in the soil.
V. MANAGEMENT OF MAIN FIELD
1. TRANSPLANTING THE SEEDLINGS
i. Let water into the bed,level the bed, if itis notlevelled.
ii. Plant 2 seedlings per hill.
iii. Plant the seedlings at a depth of 3 cm.
iv.Plant 18 to 20 days old seedlings.
v. Adopt a spacing of 15x15 cm for planting.
vi. Root dipping with Azospirillum: Prepare slurry with 5 packets (1000g)/ha of Azospirillum inoculant in 40 litres of water and dip theroot portion of the seedlings in the solution for 15-30 minutes and transplant.
2. WEED MANAGEMENT
ii. Hand weed twiceon 10th and 20th dayafter transplasnting.
3.PEST MANAGEMENT
i. Spray any one of the following Botanicals per ha for the control of leaf hopper, aphids and stemborer. Neem kernal extract 5%.
ii. Apply the neem cake powder mixed with ash at milky stage to check earhead bug and earhead caterpillar.
4.HOEING AND HAND WEEDING
i. Hoe and hand weed on the 15th day of planting in light soils and 17th day of planting in heavy soils and subsequently on 30th and 32nd days, respectively.
ii. Allow the weeds to dry for 2 or 3 days after hand weeding before giving irrigation.
NOTE: Do not adopt hoeingand hand weeding if herbicide is applied.
5.DISEASE MANAGEMENT
Blast: Spray Psudomonas sp. at 2gr./lit of water First spray immediately and after noticing the symptoms. Second and third sprays at flowering stage at 15 days interval to control neck and finger infection of blast disease of necessary.
Treat the seeds with Pseudomonas fluorescens and spray the extracts of Prosopis Juliflora leaf extract (10%) Ipomoea carnea leaf extract (10%) to reduce the incidence of blast.
Foliar spray with Aureofungin sol (100 ppm) at 50% earhead emergence followed by a second spray of Psudomonas sp. at 2gr./lit of water10 days later to reduce neck and finger blast.
Mosaic streak and mottle streak viruses:
Rogue out the affected plants.
VI. WATER MANAGEMENT
Regulate irrigation according tothe following growth phases of the crop
Vegetative Phase(Nursery) 1 to 16 1 to 18 1 to 20 Vegetative phase (in main field) 1 to 18 1 to 20 1 to 22 Flowering phase 19 to 40 21 to 55 23 to 69 Maturity phase Beyond 40 days Beyond 55days Beyond 69 days Heavy soils Establishment(1-7 days) 1 1st day 1st day 1st day 2 5th day 5th day 5th day Vegetative phase (8 to 20 days) 1 18th day 20th day 20thday 2 31st day 33rd day 30th day Flowering phase (21 to 55 days) 1 41st day 42nd day 37thday 2 51st day 52nd day 44th day 3 .. .. 63rd day Maturity phase(56 - 120 days) 1 161st day 62nd day 78th day 2 .. .. 93rd day Stop irrigation thereafter Light soils Establishment (1 - 7 days) 1 1st day 1st day 1st day 2 5th day 5thday 5th day Vegetative phase (8 - 20 days) 1 15th day 16th day 16th day 2 26th day 28th day 28th day Flowering phase (21-55 days) 1 36thday 36th day 36th day 2 45thday 45th day 45th day 3 .. 54th day 54 th day Maturity phase (56 - 120 days) 1 58th day 69th day 78thday 2 70th day .. 93rd day Stop irrigation thereafter NOTE: The irrigation schedule is given only as a general guideline. Regulate irrigation depending uponthe prevailing weather conditions and receipt of rain VII. HARVESTING
1. DECIDE WHEN TO HARVEST
i. Ragi crop does no tmature uniformly and hence the harvest is to be taken up in two stages.
ii. When the earhead on the main shoot and 50% of the earheads on the crop turn brown, the crop is ready for the first harvest..
First Harvest
i. Cut al earheads which have turned brown.
ii. Dry, thresh and clean the grains by winnowing.
Second Harvest
i. Seven days after the first harvest, cut al lthe earheads including the green ones.
ii. Cure the grains to obtain maturity by heaping the harvested earheads in shade for one day without drying, so that the humidity and temperature increase and the grains get cured.
iii. Dry, thresh and clean the grains by winnowing and store the grains in gunnies.
Protection from storage pests
1. Grain purpose: Dry the seeds adequately to reduce the moisture level to 10%
2. Seed purpose: Admix one kg of Activated kaolin for every 100 kg of seed. Pack in gunny or polythene lined gunny bags for storage.
Special propblems
i. Root Aphids: The neem cake extract 5% may be drenched at the rhizosphere of the infested and surrounding plants
ii. Rainfed ragi: Azospirillum mixed with FYM and applied to field saves the cost of nitrogen by 50% with a comparable yield obtained with 40 kg N/ha.
iii.Management of aged seedlings of ragi under rainfed conditions: When planting ragi seedlings beyond 21 days, increase the number of seedlings to 3/hill and increase N level by 25% to minimise yield loss.
iv. Apply VAM culture (Glomus fasciculatum) at 100 g/m2 in the nursery and also treat with Azospirillum and Phosphobacterium as seed treatment, seedling dip and field application to reduce the reniform nematode population in ragi.
VIII. SEED TECHNOLOGY
SELECTION OF SEED
Slurry treat the graded seed with Carbendazim at 2 g or Thiram 75% WDP at 4 g in 5 ml water per of seed.
NURSERY SOWING
Sow in rill not deeper than 1 cm in raised bed and sprinkle with 200kg of powdered FYm. Level and compact the surface lightly.
SPACING, MANURES, Etc. RECOMMENDED PACKAGES
Harvesting
First harvest when 505 of the earheads onthe crop turn brown. The second harvest a week to 10 days later when all the remaining earheads turn brown (Spikelets are non-shattering).
POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY
i. Threshing
Green earheads if harvested will contaminate the seeds with immature seeds and interfere cleaning, drying and grading. Dry earheads until seed moisture content is 15% and separate manually by threshing with pliable bamboo stick or machine thresher.
ii.Precleaning and drying
Threshed seeds shouldbe precleaned before sundrying, seeds must be dried to 12% before grading.
iii. Grading
(Bold seeds retained by BSS 12x12 will be between 70 and 77%)
a. BSS 10 x 10 (aperture width 2.4 mm) as scalper.
b. BSS 12 x 12 (aperture width 2.0 mm) as grader for CO7, CO 10, CO 11 and PR 202 processing loss will be 10 to 15%.
iv. Seed treatment
a. As above in the selection of seed
b. Pre-sowing hardening: Soak seeds in 0.5% Ca C12 at 1:1 ratio until visible e xpression of embryonic growth. Air dry to original moisture content.
v.Storage, package, labeling
Seed retains viability and vigour bettern than any other cerealcrop with marginal storage facilities in hot humid areas. On less humid places use fresh gada cloth for short term storage. For long term storage, in humid places 700 gauge polythene bag may be used.
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