Crop Production :: Forage Crops :: Kudirai Masal

Season and Varieties

Zone District/Season	Month	Variety
Irrigated
Coimbatore, Thiruppur, Erode and Dharmapuri	Throughout the year	CO 1

Particulars of Lucerne Variety

PARTICULARS	CO 1
Parentage	Mass selection from Coimbatore local
Duration (Days)	Perennial
Green fodder yield (t/ha/year)	80-90 (11-12 harvests)
Seed yield (kg/ha)	200 - 250
Morphological characters
Plant height (cm)	60 - 70
No. of branches per plant	12 - 15
No. of pods per plant	22 - 25
No. of seeds per pod	4 - 6
Quality characters
Protein content (%)	20 - 24
Dry matter (%)	18 - 20
Dry matter yield (t/ha/year)	16.15

I.  PREPARATORY CULTIVATION

1. PLOUGHING

      Plough 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

3. FORMING BEDS

        Form beds of size 10 m2 or 20 m2 depending on the availability of water and slope of land.

4. APPLICATION OF FERTILIZER

Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendations as for as possible. If soil testing is not done, follow the blanket recommendation of 25:120:40 kg NPK/ha. Apply the full dose NPK of 25:120:40 basally before sowing.

5. SEED RATE

20 kg/ha

1. Good quality seeds without the seeds of Cuscuta should be used.
2. The seeds are to be treated with Rhizobial culture at 3 packets/ha (600 g).

6. SPACING

25 cm x solid sowing

7. WATER MANAGEMENT

Irrigate immediately after sowing, life irrigation on the third day and thereafter once in a week.

8. WEED MANAGEMENT

Hand weeding is given as and when necessary.

9. PLANT PROTECTION

• Generally not recommended.
• Wherever the parasite Cuscuta is observed uproot the affected plants along with the soil and burn

10. HARVESTING

First harvest 75 - 80 days after sowing. Subsequent harvests are made at intervals of 25 - 30 days.

11. GREEN FODDER YIELD

80-90 t/ha

12. SEED YIELD

150-200 kg/ha