Planting Techniques for Field Crops

Rotation

Rotating means growing specific groups of plants in a different place each season. This may not be feasible in a very small garden. Moreover, there are a number of reasons why rotation is undertaken and some of them, such as supply of nutrients, may be important with a compost-rich organic system. On the other hand, pest and disease prevention is an important consideration.

Random or Bulk Planting

Farmers normally adopt random planting. In this method of planting, entire field is demarked into a number of strips having a width of 1.5- 2.0 m and convenient length. A.rogue spacing of 30 cm is allowed between the strips. The borders of the strips are first planted. Seedlings are then spread in each strip and planting is carried out. In most situations, seedlings are planted covering entire field without leaving the rogue space. In this type of random planting, optimum plant population and spacing between the hills cannot be maintained. However, maintenance of adequate population depends on the skill of the laborers.

Planting Under Irrigated Condition (Garden Land)

Crops such as finger millet and tobacco are transplanted under irrigated condition. The field is prepared with repeated ploughing and flat beds of convenient sizes are formed. Normally beds of 10-20 m2are prepared and irrigation channels are provided. Water is let into the plots and with the saturated moisture, seedlings are planted. Finger millet is planted at 15 x 15 cm spacing. Tobacco seedlings are planted with a spacing of 80 x 80 cm for cigarette, bidi, chewing or snuff types. For cheroot and cigar types, 75 x 60 cm spacing is adopted.

Sowing Techniques

Field crops are established by sowing seeds in the field. Proper tilth is important for better germination and establishment of the seedlings. The field is ploughed repeatedly and brought to a fine tilth. Organic manures such as well decomposed FYM or compost are added and incorporated into the soil at the time of ploughing. The method of seed bed preparation and sowing differ with the crops. Fine seed-bed preparation is very much required for sowing of small seeded crops like sesame. After ploughing, the field is converted into flat beds or ridges and furrows. Most of the field crops are sown in the beds. The size of the beds varies with the soil type and irrigation availability. Normally a bed size of 20 m is preferred. After the beds are formed, they are leveled uniformly. Irrigation channels are provided around the beds. For crops like maize, cotton, sugarcane, etc., ridges are formed. Under this condition, irrigation channels are normally formed across the furrows at convenient length.

Method of Sowing

1. Broadcasting: Generally, the seeds are broadcast-sown and later planked. This method of sowing is easier and area coverage is quick. However, uniform population cannot be maintained since the seeds are not placed in uniform depth and germination may not be uniform. The skill of the labour is important to sow the seeds evenly covering the entire field. Broadcast-sowing is normally practiced under dryland condition. Seed requirement is generally high for broadcast sowing.
Sowing behind the country plough: In this method, sowing is taken up behind the country plough operation. Seeds are dropped in the furrow opened during ploughing and subsequently covered while the next adjoining furrow is formed. Bold seeded crops like groundnut are sown by this method in drylands. It is important to take up sowing at the appropriate soil moisture so that the depth of sowing is uniformly maintained.
Drill sowing or drilling: Drill sowing is one of the best methods that provides uniform plant population since seeds are uniformly dropped in the furrows. Animal drawn or power operated seed drills are used for this purposes; seed cum fertilizer drill can also be used. By this way, depth of sowing can be maintained; fertilizer can also be applied simultaneously. Pelleting of small sized seeds may reduce the risk of irregular dropping. Since sowing is taken up in lines, intercultural operations can be easily practiced. It is possible to take up sowing of intercrops also.
Dibbling: In the method, a seed or few seeds are put in a hole and covered. Under irrigated condition, seeds are dibbled in lines or on the sides of the ridges maintaining optimum intra- row spacing, e.g. maize and cotton. Though this method is laborious and time consuming, it gives rapid and uniform germination and the requirement of seed is less than in broadcasting.