Sowing
Preparation and treatment of seed
For sowing purposes, select healthy and well developed pods. These should be shelled by hand about two weeks before sowing. Diseased kernels, if any, should be removed and the healthy ones should be treated with 3 g Captan or 5 g Thiram/kg kernels.
Time and method of sowing
The rainfed crop should be sown at the earliest with the advent of monsoon in the end of June or beginning of July. Wherever irrigation is available, the crop may be sown by applying a pre-sowing irrigation around 20 th June.
The seed should be placed in the soil about 5 cm deep in rows 30 cm apart. The plant to plant distance may be kept 15 to 22 cm depending upon the varieties. It is better to sow the crop by kera behind the plough.
Seed rate
The seed rate (kernels required for sowing per unit area) varies depending upon the seed size of the kernels and plant to plant distance kept while sowing. The following table shows seed rate (kernels) and spacing for different varieties :
| Varieties |
Spacing plant to plant (in cm) |
Seed rate per bigha (in kg) |
(kernels) per kanal (in kg) |
| P.G. No.1 |
22 |
7 |
3.5 |
| M-45 |
15 |
9 |
4.5 |
| M-13 |
22 |
9 |
4.5 |
| C-501 |
15 |
8 |
4.0 |
| M-37 |
15 |
5 |
2.5 |
|