Mustard First to third week practices

First to third week:

Climate:

Temperature: 22^oC-25^oC

Rainfall: 25-40 mm

Sowing temperature: 20^oC-22^oC

Harvesting temperature: 28^oC-30^oC

The crop prefers low humidity

Soil:

Light to heavy soil is good for mustard and rapeseed cultivation. Raya can be grown in all types of soil whereas loam to heavy soils are suitable for toria crop. Sandy and loamy sand soils are suitable for Taramira crops.

Sandy soil:

Sandy Soil is light, warm, dry and tends to be acidic and low in nutrients. Sandy soils are often known as light soils due to their high proportion of sand and little clay (clay weighs more than sand). These soils have quick water drainage and are easy to work with. They are quicker to warm up in spring than clay soils but tend to dry out in summer and suffer from low nutrients that are washed away by rain. The addition of organic matter can help give plants an additional boost of nutrients by improving the nutrient and water holding capacity of the soil.

Loam soil:

Loam soil is a mixture of sand, silt and clay that are combined to avoid the negative effects of each type. These soils are fertile, easy to work with and provide good drainage. Depending on their predominant composition they can be either sandy or clay loam. As the soils are a perfect balance of soil particles, they are considered to be a gardener’s best friend, but still benefit from topping up with additional organic matter.

• Pre-sowing irrigation should be done before sowing of seeds.

Preparation of Land:

For good germination of crops it required a fine seed bed. Do ploughing of soil for two to three times followed by two harrowing. Do planking after every ploughing. Prepared firm, moist and uniform seed bed as it will help in uniform germination of seed.

Disc Harrow:

The disc plough bears little resemblance to the common mould board plough. A large, revolving, concave steel disc replaces the share and the mould board. The disc turns the furrow slice to one side with a scooping action. The usual size of the disc is 60 cm in diameter and this turns a 35 to 30 cm furrow slice. The disc plough is more suitable for land in which there is much fibrous growth of weeds as the disc cuts and incorporates the weeds. The disc plough works well in soils free from stones. No harrowing is necessary to break the clods of the upturned soil as in a mould board plough.

Laser Land Leveler:

Laser Land Leveler is a more advanced technique for smoothing the land surface from its average height with a certain degree of the desired slope using a guided laser beam throughout the field. Laser Land Levelling is an important technology for good agronomic, highest possible yield, crop-management, and water-saving.

Advantages of soil preparation-

• It loosens the soil.
• It aerates the soil.
• It prevents soil erosion.
• It allows easy penetration of roots into the soil.

Disadvantages of soil preparation-

The downside of tilling is that it destroys the natural soil structure, which makes soil more prone to compaction. By exposing a greater surface area to air and sunlight, tilling reduces soil’s moisture-retaining ability and causes a hard crust to form on the soil surface.

Selection of variety:

Popular Mustard Varieties

Pioneer 45S46:

• Early maturity variety.
• Matures 90-95 days
• Better oil percentage
• Grains are bold.

ADV414:

• Early maturity variety.
• Matures 90-100 days
• Better oil percentage
• Grains are bold.

PBT 37:

• Early maturity variety.
• Matures in 91 days.
• It is suitable for toria-wheat cultivation.
• Seeds are dark brown and bold in size.
• It gives an average yield of 5.4 q/acre and seeds contain 41.7% oil.

TL 15:

• It is an early maturity variety.
• It required 88 days to mature.
• It gives an average yield of 4.5 q/acre.

TL 17:

• Ready to harvest in 90 days.
• Suitable for multiple cropping.
• It gives an average yield of 5.2 q/acre.

RLM 619:

• It is recommended for cultivation in irrigated and rainfed areas.
• It is ready to harvest in 143 days.
• Its seeds are bold and contain 43% oil.
• It is resistant to white rust, blight and downy mildew.
• Gives average yield of 8 q/acre.

PBR 91:

• It will be ready to harvest in 145 days.
• It is resistant to blight, rust and insect pests.
• It gives an average yield of 8.1 quintal/acre.

PBR 97:

• Suitable for cultivation under rainfed conditions.
• Ready to harvest in 136 days.
• Grains are medium bold and contain 39.8% oil content.
• Gives average yield of 5.2 q/acre.

PBR 210:

• Suitable for timely sown and irrigated conditions.
• Ready to harvest in 150 days.
• It gives an average yield of 6 q/acre.

RLC 3:

• Tall variety, ready to harvest in 145 days.
• Its average yield is about 7.3 q/acre.
• Its oil content is 41.5%.

GSL 1:

• Ready to harvest in 160 days.
• Crop is short and does not lodge easily.
• It gives an average yield of 6.7 q/acre.
• Seeds contain 44.5% oil content.

GSC 6:

• Recommended for timely sown crop under irrigated condition.
• Seeds are bold and contain 39.1% oil content.
• It gives an average yield of 6.07 q/acre.

RH 0749:

• Suitable for growing in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu and North Rajasthan.
• It is a high yielding variety having more number of seeds per silique.
• Ready to harvest in 146-148 days.
• Seeds are bold and have an oil percentage of 40%.
• It gives an average yield of 10.5-11 q/acre.

T 59 (Varuna):

• It is suitable under all climatic conditions.
• Ready to harvest in 145-150 days.
• Gives oil content about 39%.
• It gives an average yield of 6-8 q/acre.

Treatment of seed:

To protect seed from soil borne pests and disease, before sowing do seed treatment with Thiram@3gm per kg of seeds.

Seed Rate:

• Line sowing: 1.5 kg/acre
• Broadcasting: 2 kg/acre

Sowing time

• Time for sowing Mustard crops is from September to October.
• For toria crop, sowing from the first fortnight of September to October.
• For African sarson and Taramira can be sown in the whole October month.
• For Raya crops complete sowing from mid of October to November End.

Spacing

• For rapeseed :- Row to Row distance of 30 cm and plant to plant distance of 10-15 cm.
• For Gobhi sarson:- Row to Row distance of 45 cm and plant to plant distance of 10 cm.

Depth

• Depth should be kept at 4 to 5 cm.

Sowing Method

Drilling method:

Seed drilling is a planting method that uses a seed drill to place seeds in the ground. The seed drill opens furrows in the soil and then deposits the seeds into the furrow. The seed drill also covers the seeds with soil to protect them from wind and animals.

Advantages of Drilling Method:

• The seed rate becomes less.  
• Drilling facilitates thinning and roughing of weak and diseased plants.          
• The intercultural operations such as earthing up, manuring, irrigation, spraying etc. can be done successfully in the drilled crops.
• The drilled crops get light, air, nutrients equally as they are spaced at uniform distance.       
• Harvesting of crops is easier and advantageous. So, the harvesting cost becomes less.
• Drilling may be adopted for both sole cropping and intercropping situations.
• The cost of cultivation in the drilled crop becomes less and the yield of the drilled crop increases.  

Disadvantages of Drilling Method:

• Drilling requires more time, energy and cost.
• An expert technical person is required for running a seed-drill.     
• Drilling needs more time in comparison to broadcasting.

Broadcasting:  

This method is as old as agriculture itself but it has several drawbacks viz. all seeds do not get better soil moisture contact and do not germinate, a part of the seed is eaten up by birds and ants etc., which results in uneven and poor germination.

Advantages of broadcasting-

• It is an easy, quick, and cheap method of sowing seed.
• More land can be covered within a short time.
• No need for sowing implementation. 
• Cost of sowing becomes less.
• Broadcasting is the usual method of sowing seed for mixed cropping.
• Broadcasting needs less labour.

Disadvantages of broadcasting

• The requirement of seed per area is more.
• The cost of weeding and thinning in the broadcast crop is more.
• The intercultural operations such as earthing up, manuring, irrigation, etc., cannot be carried out with ease.
• Broadcasting needs planking for covering the seed with soil. On the other hand, drilling needs no planking.
• Broadcast crops do not grow uniformly, and the desired yield is not possible. Moreover, the prediction of the expected outcome becomes erroneous.

Soil and Land preparation:

Apply 70 to 100 quintal farm yard manure or well decomposed cow dung in soil.

Benefits of soil treatment:

Water benefits:

• Healthy soil acts as a sponge: more rainwater is absorbed and stored in the ground, where it recharges groundwater and aquifers.
• Healthy soil prevents run-off and erosion, and reduces evaporation.
• Healthy soil improves water quality by filtering pollutants.

Nutritious food:

• Healthy soil increases the nutritional value of food and forage.
• Healthy soil provides plants with the nutrition they need and strengthens plants’ natural resistance to pests and diseases.

Economic security:

• Healthy soil improves farm productivity and provides stability.
• Healthy soil cuts down on inputs, which increases profit.
• Healthy soil helps withstand extreme weather, floods and drought.

Environmental and health benefits:

• Healthy soil helps reverse global warming by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere where it acts as a greenhouse gas.
• Healthy soil provides habitat for soil microbes to flourish.
• Healthy soil supports greater biodiversity and species stability.

Weed Management:

• Weed control in Toria crop, do pre-plant incorporation of Trifluralin at 400ml/200Ltrs of water per acre.
• For raya crop, give pre-emergence spray of Isoproturon at 400gm/200Ltr within 2 days of sowing.