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Field Preparation and Sowing

Field Preparation and Sowing:

Barley, being a shallow rooted crop, responds well to light textured fine seed bed. Best yield are obtained from a well prepared soil with a good tilth and completely free from weeds. The desired tilth may be obtained by one ploughing with soil turning plough followed by 2-3 ploughing with desi plough or 2-3 harrowing. The land should be planked after every ploughing or harrowing as it breaks the clods. The roots and stubbles of previous crop and weed should be picked – up and thrown out of field as they attract termites. In dry land areas deep ploughing and discing after each rainfall followed by leveling and bunding should be done during the monsoon season to ensure proper soil moisture for germination and growth under rainfed condition.

Sowing Time:
Barley is grown under a wide range of sowing dates determined by differences of latitude, Altitude, Climatic condition, cropping system, Soil type, Moisture, irrigation facilities etc. Timely sowing of barley ensures good return from the crop including maximum use of conserved moisture and to avoid high temperature. Delayed sowing reduce the grain yield per unit area and produce poor quality grain, not suitable for malting which can be overcome by using late varieties. The different sowing time of Barley at various Agro-climatic zones of Sikkim is mentioned below:-

Sl. No.     Zone     Sowing Time
1     Lower Hills (up to 1000 m)     Last week of October to mid of November
2     Mid Hills (1000 – 1500 m)     2nd Fortnight of October to 1st week of November
3     High Hills (1500 – 2200 m)     1st Fortnight of October
4     Dry Temp. Zone (Above 2200 m)     2nd Fortnight of April to 1st Fortnight of May.

Seed Rate:
The seed rate of barley depends upon its test weight, spacing, sowing time, and method as well as fertility status. Recent Agronomic Experiments suggest that for irrigated timely sown in medium fertile soil 75-80 kg/ha and for irrigated or rainfed late sown in poor fertile soil 80-100 kg/ha seed is optimum for good crop yield.

Seed Treatment:
Seed treatment is most important operation in crop production as it protect the seedling against the attack of externally seed born diseases. Use of treated seed is always better than inviting the disease and controlling it later. Disease free crop of barley can be obtained by growing resistant varieties. Hot water treatment can be done to avoid certain disease. In case of saline rainfed areas seed should be soaked overnight in water for quick germination and better stand of crop. The barley seeds can be treated with bacteria like Azotobacter to get better stand of crops.

Depth and spacing:
The seed of barley should be sown to a depth of 5-8 cm at a distance of 22-23 cm.

Method of Sowing:
The seed are sown either by broadcasting or line sowing. In broadcasting method seed are broadcasted on well prepared land and then properly mixed with soil so that the seed should be fully covered with soil. Line sowing is far superior method than the broadcasting method. In this method seed are sown with a seed drill or dropping seeds with a chonga (a tube connected with a funnel like structure behind country plough) attached to a desi plough. Sowing of seed in a row ensure uniform seed placement, less – lodging, better management of weed etc.