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Field Preparation and Sowing

Field Preparation and Sowing

The wheat crop requires a well pulverized but compact seed bed for good and uniform germination. So for that land should be ploughed deeply in summer with soil turning plough followed by clods crushing, removing of stubbles of previous crop and weeds and leveling. Under Sikkim condition one deep ploughing and one shallow ploughing is sufficient due to light texture of soil. Excess tillage causes loss of soil moisture which reduces the uniform germination. The terraces of the hills of Sikkim should be well leveled for uniform distribution of irrigation water and to avoid irrigation water accumulation at different places. If composed of FYM is to be applied it should be spread uniformly after first ploughing and then well incorporated in the top surface of soil by shallow ploughing. If white ants and other type of pest are a problem, neem cake should be applied to the soil after the last ploughing or before planking.

Seed Rate:
Seed rate depend on the size of seed, percentage of germination, viability, time and method of sowing and crop rotation.as a standard procedure 100kg of seed per hectare is sufficient if the seed viability is around 85%. In case of bold seeded varieties like sonalika or in late sowing the seed rate is increased to 125kg per hectare. The seed rate as mentioned above is for net area sown but in case of terrace field the net area is usually 50 to 70% of the gross area and hence the seed rate has to be decreased based on percentage net area available.

Selection of seed
The seed have a good germination capacity, healthy, free from seed borne diseases and seeds of weeds, viable and certified seed should be used for the cultivation of wheat. In case of occurrence of ear cockle and Tungro disease the galls should be removed by floating them in water and the seed free from them should be selected for the cultivation.

Seed treatment:
Seeds of wheat crop can be treated by many ways before sowing to enhance the productivity and reduce the losses.

Organic treatment:
For the control of fungal diseases, the fungal disease bio-agent namely as Trichoderma herzianum, Trichoderma viride and Trichoderma virens should be used for seed treatment @ 10 g per kg of seed. Seed treated with Pseudomonas bacterium culture @ 10g per kg of seed controls Bacterial diseases of wheat.

Solar treatment:
In the hot sunny weather seeds are dipped in water to get exposed sunlight for 6 to 8 hours. It kills pathogens of many diseases.

Bio-fertilizer treatment:
For efficient use of soil nutrients like Phosphorus, seed is to be treated with Phosphorus solublizing bacteria (PSB) and for N, the N-fixing bacteria cultures i.e., Pseudomonas, Azospirillum, Azotobacter and Cynobacteria are to be used.

Time of sowing
Time of sowing is an important factor for obtaining high yield of wheat. It depends upon duration of variety in regard to cropping period, crop rotation; altitude etc. Wheat crop is generally taken after maize in Sikkim. So in this case sowing of wheat starts from the third week of September and continue up to last week of October. This will enable the crop to germinate early and establish before the plant is affected by low soil moisture condition during the month of December to February. In case of rice wheat crop rotation wheat sowing starts from third week of October and continues up to fifteen December. Wheat sowing should not be delayed beyond 15th of December as late sowing. However from the experiment it was found that 2nd fortnight of October to 1st fortnight of November gives maximum yield. Hence in general October–November is recommended the optimum time for wheat sowing in Sikkim as it will ensure adequate soil moisture. During the sowing it must be ensured that germination is not affected by water logging that may occur if there is excess rainfall. So in this case sowing in small ridges can prevent excess moisture in the root zone.

Depth of Sowing
Depth of sowing is governed by soil moisture regime and soil type, however the depth of 5-7cm is found to be optimum for dwarf wheat. It is preferably better to have 2.5- 5cm seedling depth because of shorter coleoptiles in new varieties while tall ones may be sown at 7cm depth. Generally deeper sowing is practised in rough dry and light soil whereas comparatively shallow sowing is done in moist soil. Therefore, wheat seeds should be sown at a depth of 3-5 cm deep below the soil surface where sufficient soil moisture is available to enable the germination. Deeper sowing affects the germination of seed.

Method of sowing
Seeds can be sown either by broadcasting method or line sowing method depending upon the available sowing equipment which is discussed below

1. Broadcasting method This method of sowing are generally practiced by the farmers specially of Sikkim which is not a good method but still more popular This method have several drawbacks which all seed do not get proper soil moisture content and do not germinate, some amount of seeds are eaten by birds as it does not covered fully with the soil, difficulties in intercultural operation etc which result in an uneven and poor germination. To minimize these facts about 25% more seed are needed to be sown than the recommended level which in crease the cost of cultivation and reduce the net profit.

In this method seeds are broadcasted and scattered by hand over the well ploughed land once in east west and again north south direction to cover the area uniformly. Thereafter seeds are incorporated well in the top surface of soil so that they could be fully covered with a thin layer of soil having sufficient moisture for germination.

2. Line-sowing method This method is generally not practiced in Sikkim due to unavailability of proper sowing equipments but it is far superior to the broadcasting method because line sowing of crop facilititates the cultural operations and also enable to identify the weed seedlings even at early stage. In this method seeds are sown by different method in the rows by keeping a proper distance and depth using specific machine called seed drill. The seeds are sown in this method in a lines maintaining 20 to 25 cm row distance. For this purpose various type of seed drill have already developed in our country drawn by machine or animal.

   A. Sowing in furrows behind the plough After the preparation of field seeds are dropped in furrows behind the country plough by hand. Sometime a funnel is attached with an iron pipe in the hand of plough and the seeds dropped at desired depth and spacing for obtaining satisfactory germination. Under rainfed condition after sowing, the furrows are left open where as in irrigated condition the furrows are covered with wooden plank.
   B. Dibbling method :This method was popularised during early sixties and proved better under limited seed availability however being time taking, cumbersome and labour intensive it could not be commercialized.
  C.  Drilling method :The sowing is done through seed drill/ seed – cum – ferti drill and it has gained popularity. The seed and fertilizer rate can be calibrated to suit the situation.
  D.  Zero till seed drill method :This method was developed by G. B. Pant Agricultural University and Technology for rice-wheat cropping zones which are used for sowing of wheat seeds in rice stubbles immediately after harvest of rice, to utilize the residual soil moisture especially in light soil and reduce the cropping period, otherwise required for seed bed preparation. It is now gaining popularity as it results in nearly equal productivity as obtained by conventional method of sowing done about a fortnight earlier. For greater advantage the established wheat must be removed and bunds prepared in the field should be broken.
E . Furrow irrigated rice bed method: This method has been evolved to economize irrigation water in which rice bed are prepared to accommodate 2or 3 row of wheat between two furrows. The irrigation is done in only furrows. Thus about half of the irrigation required may be saved by this method without any loss of the productivity of wheat grain. The wheat yield has been found to be higher than conventional method. A machine has been developed to make raised bed and sowing of wheat simultaneously has been developed for this purpose. This, method helps in economizing water required by the crop besides giving better germination.

Earthing up Due to light texture of soils of Sikkim one earthing up in wheat crop should be done at the time of first irrigation or at the time of top dressing to avoid lodging of crops.