Crop Production :: Forage Crops :: Fodder Cowpea

Season and Varieties

Zone District/ Season	Month	Varieties
Irrigated
Erode, Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai	June-July	CO 5 and CO (FC) 8

Particulars of Fodder Cowpea Varieties

PARTICULARS	CO 5	CO (FC) 8
Parentage	Gamma ray mutant of CO 1	Cross derivative from CO 5 x N
Duration (Days)	60-65	60-65
Green fodder yield (t/ha)	18-20	18-22
Seed yield (kg/ha)	600	625
Morphological characters
Plant height (cm)	93.00	100-120
No. of branches	2 - 3	3-4
No. of leaves	12	13-15
Leaf length (cm)	12.1	13.5
Leaf width (cm)	8.2	9.1
Leaf stem ratio	0.83	0.95
Quality characters
Dry matter content (%)	14.64	15.5
Crude protein content (%)	20.00	20.7

 PREPARATORY CULTIVATION

1. PLOUGHING

         Plough twice with an iron plough and three or four times with country plough to obtain good tilth.

2. APPLICATION OF FYM

      Apply and spread FYM or compost at 12.5 t/ha

FORMING RIDGES AND FURROWS

• Form ridges and furrows of 6 m length and 30 cm apart.
• If ridges and furrows are not made, form beds of size 20 m2 depending on the availability of  water.

3. APPLICATION OF FERTILIZER

        Apply NPK fertilizers as per the soil test recommendations as for as possible. If soil testing is not done, follow the blanket recommendation of 25:40:20 kg NPK/ha.

4. SOWING

The seeds are to be treated with Rhizobial culture at 3 packets/ha (600 g) using rice kanji as binder.

b.     Seed rate : 25 kg/ha.
c.     Spacing : 30 x 15 cm

5. IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT

Irrigate immediately after sowing, Life irrigation on third day and thereafter once in ten days.

6. WEED MANAGEMENT

      Hoeing and weeding are given as and when necessary.

7. HARVESTING

      Harvest 50 - 55 days after sowing (50% flowering stage).

8. GREEN FODDER YIELD

Irrigated : 20-30 t/ha

Rainfed  : 10-15 t/ha