Preparation of Panchagavya and how to use it as plant growth promotor

The most prominent plant growth promoter and support  is Panchagavya or panchakavyam which literally means a 'concoction made of five products obtained from a cow'. The ingredients are Cow dung, Cow urine, Cow's milk, Curd and Ghee. These were mixed in correct combination and procedure and the mixture was fermented to get the wonder Elixir. This was a single solution for controlling the pests and boosting the plant growth and enhancing the yield, enriching the soil with useful minerals and useful microbes.

Preparation of Panchagavya:

We can now see how this is made:

The following items are required:

1. Fresh Cow dung  - 1kg

2). Cow urine- 1.5 liter  

3). Cow milk-1.5 liter  

4). Cow curd- 250 Ml 

5). Ghee – 250 gm 

6). Ripe yellow bananas (Poovan)  – 2 nos

7) Water -    1.5 liters

Procedure:

* Mix Cow dung and Ghee well and keep it covered in a wide mouthed plastic, cement or earthen container.( Avoid metal containers as this may react with metals.) Stir the contents thoroughly both in morning and evening and keep it covered with a fine mesh or cloth for 3 days. If not covered, the flies will lay eggs and we will have maggots in the preparation.

* After 3 days, mix cow urine and water and keep it covered for 15 days with regular mixing both in morning and evening.

* After 15 days add Cow's milk, Cow's curd and Bananas, mix well and keep it covered for another 15 days. 

* Do regular stirring daily, both in morning and evening and keep covered.

Panchagavya will be ready to use by then. 

Dosage and frequency of usage

10 Ml concentrate can be mixed in 1 liter water and filtered and used for foliar spray for plants from 4 leaf stage up to mature plants, once a week 20 –30 ml  Ml in 1 ltr water (3% solution) can be used for soil drench. This concentrate can be stored upto 6 months.

Improvement  on the formula: 

This concoction had been modified and bettered by many experts and now they have incorporated a few more ingredients. So while adding Banana, the following two can also be added

Tender coconut water – 500 Ml 

Jaggery - 3 kg ----- 500 gm

Balance is all the same. Some farmers add more items like sugar cane juice, fruit juices and toddy to introduce yeast for better fermentation. These inclusions will add to additional nutritional values for the preparation  

Chemical composition

pH                : 5.45 

EC dSm2 : 10.22

Total N (ppm) : 229

Total P (ppm) : 209

Total K (ppm) : 232

Sodium               : 90

Calcium               : 25

IAA (ppm) : 8.5

GA (ppm        : 3.5

Microbial Load

Fungi               : 38800/ml

Bacteria : 1880000/ml

Lactobacillus : 2260000/ml

Total anaerobes: 10000/ml

Acid formers : 360/ml

Methanogen    : 250/ml

Fatty acids Alkanes Alconol and Alcohols

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How to build geodesic domes using bamboo

The Geodesic domes are spherical in shape were lightweight triangular or polygonal facets consisting of either skeletal struts or flat planes, largely in tension, replace the arch principle and distribute stresses within the structure itself. 

There are probably as many different dome designs as there are dome builders. This is partly because size, geometry, designs and coverings can be modified according to the raw materials available. The design shown here, though not as grand as the ones developed by experts, still uses the same basic geometric form. It is simple to build and easy to dismantle. 

Depending on the type of covering you use, this design is suitable as a temporary or semi-permanent dwelling. 

The essentials:

To build your own dome home you will need the following:

• Time : about a day (although it will only take about an hour to put up and less to take down).

• Equipment : drill and drill bits, tape measure, protractor, hand saw and a vice (not essential but will make construction more accurate, particularly when drilling the holes).

• Materials : hazel poles or broomsticks, about 20mm (¾") in diameter, 1.5m (5') of 130mm (5") alcathene gas pipe and  260 split pins. These make it easy to erect and take down your dome.

Preparation

Step 1. Cut 35 poles to exactly the same length: 1050mm-1200mm (3'6"-4') would give even tall people adequate headroom. Do not cut them shorter than 900mm (3') unless building for children; and 1200mm (4') is probably the optimum length for the strength of materials and joints used in this design.

Step 2. Saw 30 more poles, which must be 11% shorter than the long poles. For example, if you cut the long poles to 1200mm (4') then your shorter poles will be 1070mm (3'6").

Step 3. Cut the alcathene gas pipe into sections 50mm (2") long to make the joints. You will need 26 joints in all.

Now you need to drill holes in the joints to hold the ends of the poles. The holes will need to be fractionally larger than the poles you use. For example, if you use standard household broomsticks which are roughly 20mm (¾") thick, holes will be cut to just less than 25mm (1") in diameter. This will ensure enough 'give' in the joints to create the angles necessary in dome building. You must make precise measurements. Be consistent, regardless of the dimensions you decide upon.

Assembly

Step 1. Assembling a prototype:Take one 5-hole joint and slot in five of the smaller poles.

Put two 4-hole joints at the base of the pentagon and slot three 6-hole joints onto the upright poles.

Step 2. At this point, measure where the holes need to be drilled in the poles either side of the pipe. Depending on the thickness of the pipe, this will be about 25mm (1") from the end of each pole and again about 25mm (1") further along the pole.

Once you have marked the poles, dismantle the pentagon. Sort the poles into two piles – long and short. Drill two holes in each end of every pole. It is vital that each hole is drilled in exactly the same position on every pole.

Step 3. Reassemble the pentagon and fasten the joints by inserting the split pins. Build from the middle outwards following the pattern as shown in video.

You can view the video in this post. Geodesic dome home was built in Aranya eco village, Berikai, Tamilnadu. 

Mango people an organization who helped in building Geodesic dome.

https://www.facebook.com/tuar6/videos/2211138169112779/?app=fbl

Video courtesy : #mangopeople #aranyaecovillage 

You can learn how to build geodesic domes practically through Auroville Bamboo centre.. The courses are going on.. :)

You can also contact #mangopeople an NGO in faridabad.

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About Farm Drone pesticide sprayers

In the present era, there are too many developments in precision agriculture for increasing the crop productivity. Especially, in the developing countries like India, over 70% of the rural people depends upon the agriculture fields. The agriculture fields faces dramatic losses due to the diseases. These diseases came from the pests and insets, which reduces the productivity of the crops. Pesticides and fertilizers are used to kill the insects and pests in order to enhance the crop quality. The WHO (World Health Organization estimated as one million cases of ill effected, when spraying the pesticides in the crop filed manually. The Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – aircrafts are used to spray the pesticides to avoid the health problems of humans when they spray manually. UAVs or drones  can be used easily, where the equipment and labors difficulty to operate. This paper reviews briefly the implementation of  UAVs for crop monitoring and pesticide spraying.

A sprayer system is mounted on UAV for pesticides spraying. The integration of UAV with sprayer system results a potential to provide a platform to pest management and vector control. This is accurate site specific application for a large crop fields. For this purpose heavy lift UAVs or drone sprayers are required for large area of spraying. The efficiency of the spraying system which is mounted to the UAV or drone increases through the PWM controller in the pesticide applications. A petrol powered unmanned aerial vehicle Yamaha RMAX developed for pesticide spraying in rice fields of Asia. In comparison with ground based sprayers, deposition of pesticides from the developed UAV is almost similar. The RMAX is a crop sprayer for a high value crop environment. A prototype extendable to develop a drone with increasing volume mean diameter droplet size up to 300mm. The uses of drone in spraying operations are increasing because of its speed and accuracy. But, some factors reduce the crop quality like some area in the crop field is not covered properly while spraying, Crop areas overlapping and outer edges of the crop field in the spraying process. To overcome these factors, a swarm of Drones were used in a control loop of algorithm for agriculture operations, where unmanned aerial vehicles are the responsible for the spraying pesticides. The process of spraying the pesticides on the crop is organized by the feedback coming from the WSNs deployed in the field. The communication with each one is done by a control loop to adjust the route of unmanned aerial vehicle to changes in the speed of wind and number of messages exchanged in between. A short delay in the control loop, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle can analyze the data from WSN to further route. It could also minimize the waste of pesticides. An automatic navigation UAV spraying system MSP430 developed to direct the UAV in desired spray area.

Keeping in view of these facts, a crop monitoring and Pesticide spraying Drones are developed consisting of an automated drone system and sprinkling system with multi spectral camera. The sprinkling system is attached to the lower region off the UAV which has a nozzle beneath the pesticide tank to sprinkle the pesticide towards downstream. First monitoring is done by multi spectral camera, the camera scans the whole crop field and generates a spatial map. This map manifest the condition of the crop through NDVI and then the farmer evaluates which type of pesticides/fertilizers apply on the crop.

UAVs in precision agriculture is still in its early stage and maybe a scope for further development in both the technology and the agriculture applications. Providentially, it is expended that with the development of UAV'S technology, improved image processing techniques, lower costs, flying times, batteries, new camera designs, low volume sprayers, and nozzle types. A significant number of experimental studies of UAV'S based remote sensing for agriculture application. It will be a more prominent advantages of these systems in precision agriculture and environmental monitoring.

Conclusion: The drone sprayers are costly. The drone service centers are less in number. They are suitable for large scale land holders. Proper training is needed to run the drones. 

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About setting up farm weather stations

Farm Weather stations will be helpful for open field plantations and is one of the best-understood data capture requirements in agriculture. The micro weather data comprises of temperature, humidity, pressure, rain, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, evaporation, soil moisture, and temperature etc..

Temperature and humidity are common across most of the requirements. The plants require a certain temperature and humidity range to thrive. The fungi and pathogens also thrive in certain environmental conditions. Like, mildew worms in grapes happen in certain leaf wetness, temperature and rain conditions. open field agriculture practitioners may also need evaporation and solar radiation data.

Rain and soil are also critical variables. Soil needs to be monitored at different depths. Water intensive crops need soil moisture sensors to check if the roots are getting water or not. Soil nutrients like NPK need to be monitored to check soil health. Different soil can have different pH and thus suitability for different crops.

 

Temperature and humidity can be done with help of semiconductor sensors. The way to measure rain is via gauges or tipping rain buckets. Wind speed and direction sensors are analog sensors. The rate of evaporation can be monitored using an evaporation PAN. A depth sensor can be used for automatic pan depth measurements. For disease onset and prediction, four sensors, namely, Rain, Leaf wetness, temperature, and humidity are critical. Leaf wetness sensors try to mimic the presence of water on leaves using conductivity or capacitive measurements.

The availability of the hyper local weather data is critical to scope out the farm level conditions. The data captured from satellites are at a much lower resolution and cannot help answer farm level questions. A grid of weather stations capturing micro weather data can be deployed to collect real-time data from the field that can be used to analyzed weather conditions and develop advisories.

Can build Arduino based weather stations on our own. Tutorials available online.

Or we can choose readymade farm weather station available in the markets. One such company is YuktIx technologies. You can contact them for more info.

YuktIx Technologies

www.yuktix.com

+91-9910908382

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Farm update video tour May 2020

We would like to show you our farm plot for food security. Choosen few annuals and perrineals for growing. There are nine rows, where five rows are for perrineals and four rows for annuals. The perrineals includes p Pigeon pea, Brinjal, Kandhari chilly, etc... The annual rows includes cow pea, okra or ladies finger, Local variety chilly, Bottle gourd, Beans (dwarf), Ridge gourd, etc... Included Hibiscus, Jasmine plants at the bunds to attract pests. The curry leaves plants were also planted in the bunds. 

Kandhari chilly, a chilly variety which has self life of two years. At the beginning the fruits looks white, when ripening it turns to red. The spicy-ness of the Kandhari chilly is highest when compared to other varieties.

Pigeon pea has a self life of 2 years. The seeds can be dried and stored for future purpose. 

Brinjal a perrineal native variety which lives for 2 years. A good tasty variety. The variety is not bitter. 

Cow pea, the seeds can be saved. If pods are light green we can use while pod for cooking.

Okra or Ladies finger, starts to yield from 50th day and yield  upto 90 th day.

Bottle gourd, a native variety which tastes good. A good combination for a sambar. Has self life of 6 months. Can harvest for 70 days. The first yield will start from 50th day.

Ridge gourd, same as bottle gourd, it also yields from 50th day. Has self life of 6 months.

Beans, we sown dwarf variety. The beans seeds are purple in colour. Thus they are commonly known as purple beans. Grows upto one to one and half feet height. Beans seeds can be saved for food.

Cucumber a awesome native variety which are mainly cultivated for it's seeds. It is believed that these seeds control ageing. The fruit juice made using this cucumber is awesome. Can't regret.

Watch the YouTube video regarding the post. Share and subscribe our YouTube channel if you are interested in small scale farming for self sufficiency.

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How to grow poona kheera cucumber

Poona kheera cucumbers produce large fruits which are traditionally cut into slices for use in salads and as a garnish. They are a fast growing crop under good growing conditions. The maturity is between 55 to 65 days. Poona kheera cucumber is grown in spring and summer. Usually, cucumber plants can't withstand frost at all. So, plant in hot and warm conditions. 

Cucumbers are native to the tropics and absolutely must have warm soil (70˚ F minimum) for good germination and growth. Consequently they are among the last crops to be planted out in spring. Most varieties fruit better in short days, so they tend to be more productive later in the summer. Cucumbers take 2 weeks to germinate at 60 degrees, but only 3 days at 85 degrees. Cucumbers can be grown in partial shade. I.e it needs atleast 6 hours of full sun light.

The best way to water Cucumbers is with a drip system or soaker hose, as this keeps the leaves dry and so reduces the chance of disease problems. If you must get the leaves wet, water in the morning, or early evening, so they have a chance to dry out quickly. You don't want the leaves to stay wet all night.

Be careful not to overwater germinating seeds or they may rot. It's best to soak the ground or the potting soil heavily when first planting, then avoid watering again if possible until seedlings emerge. Cucumber seeds emerge in 5+ days; very lightly water ground or potting soil around day 3 or 4 to keep soil from crusting so that seeds can emerge more easily.

Poona kheera Cucumbers grow quite well in containers and several varieties have been produced specifically for this. They will be more productive in larger containers (at least 12" in diameter). In order to prevent root rot, it is important that your container has drainage holes. Line the bottom of your container with weed cloth or newspaper and then cover with a handful of small rocks. Fill the remainder with amixture of peat moss, compost and potting soil. Cucumbers need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day. In extremely hot climates, it is best to provide partial shade and keep your container away from direct sunlight. Cucumbers need lots of water, and they prefer moist soil.

Poona kheera cucumbers attracts beneficial insects. The fruit size of the cucumber is 6 inches to 11 inches. The fruits on maturing will turn to brown from green. So, harvest the fruits while it is still green.

https://youtu.be/5BCm6H3I1iQ

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Small millet Food recipes for healthy life

Millets are nutri cereals comprising of sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet (major millets) foxtail, little, kodo, proso and barnyard millet (minor millets). These are one of the oldest foods known to humanity. These are one of the several speciesof coarse cereal grasses in the family Poaceae, cultivated for their small edible seeds. They are highly nutritious, non-glutinous and not acid forming foods. Hence they are soothing and easy to digest. 

They contain high amounts of dietary fibre, B-complex vitamins, essential amino and fatty acids and vitamin E. They are particularly high in minerals, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and release lesser percentage of glucose over a longer period of time causing satiety which lowers the risk of diabetes.These grains are high in carbohydrates, with protein content varying from 6 to11 percent and fat varying from 1.5 to 5 percent. Millets are typically annuals and range in height from 30 to 130 cm with the exception of sorghum and pearl millet, which has stalks 1.5 to 3 m tall and about 2.5 cm thick. The inflorescences may be spikes or racemes, in which the flowers are borne on stalks of about equal length along an elongated axis, or panicles with dense clusters of small florets. With the exception of pearl millet, seeds remain enclosed in hulls after threshing. Hulled seeds are usually creamy white.

In India, millets has been a staple diet and a main source of income for farmers especially in the semi-arid regions. They are important food and fodder crop in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of the world and grows in both kharif and rabi seasons.

You can download the list of small millet recipes from the link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12bEU2Lt39ZhtvINUziK4O_7FTPK6q-s9/view?usp=drivesdk

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How to remove the hard husk from the small millets at home ?

This article is concentrated on how to remove the hard husk from the small Millets at home. The husk of the small Millets like foxtail millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet, little millet, porso millet are very hardy when compared to the finger millet and pearl millet. 

After getting the grains from threshing the small millets, the hard husk has to be removed. There are few machineries which are little bit costlier to remove husk from the small Millets. But, there is a way to do it small scale in home. Yes, you can remove the husk of small Millets using mixie at home. Follow the below steps to remove the husk from the small Millets.

* Let's consider foxtail millet for processing. Take 1 kg of foxtail millet to remove husk.

* Moisten the grains with sufficient water and leave it for 15 minutes.

* Then, put the wet foxtail millet to the mixie. With 3 second time interval grind them until you see the husk separated.

* After seeing husk in the grains, put the grains in the winnow.

* By winnowing process the separated husk husk will be removed.

* Further winnowing is recommended to remove any other impurities of husk present in the grains.

* After that you can use the cleaned grains for cooking.

There is a video you can refer to know the process.

https://youtu.be/CtHMj39MoJQ

You can refer to the above video, the same process as been explained by YouTube user. Credits goes to them.

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How to grow and harvest foxtail millet

Here is an article on how to grow foxtail millet. 

Common name: Kakun

Vernacular Names: Foxtail millet (English), Kangni (Hindi), Navane (Kannada), Thinai (Tamil), Kang (Gujarati) and Rala (Marathi).

Family: Gramineae

Introduction: Fox tail is also known as Italian millet, and German millet. It is generally grown as a rainfed crop in India. It has an erect leafy stem that grow 60-75 cm tall and bend quite a bit at maturity due to heavy weight of earhead. Foxtail grain contains 10% to 12% Protein, 4.7% fat, 60.6 % carbohydrates 2.29% to 2.7% Lysine and 0.59 (mg) Thiamin.

Climate and soil: Foxtail can be grown in tropics as well as temperate regions both under low and moderate rainfall. The crop can be grown even at an altitude of 2000 metres and 50-75 centimetre annual rainfall. Foxtail grows well on well-drained loamy soils. They will not tolerate water-logged soils or extreme drought.

Varieties:

Following are the important varieties of the crop:

Pant setaria-4, TNAU-43, HMT-100-1, SIA-326, PS-4, K-2, K-3 and Krishna devaraya.

 

Land Preparation: Kakun does not require much field preparation. Before the onset of monsoon the field should be ploughed once with mould board plough. With onset of monsoon the field should be harrowed or plough with local plough twice in northern India or with blade harrows in south India.

Sowing Time: Kharif- June to July

Rabi- September to October

Seed rate: 8-10 kg/ha (line sowing)

15 kg/ha (broadcasting)

Seed treatment: Seed treated with Ceresan @ 3 g/kg of seed. 

Method of Sowing: Broadcasting and line sowing.

Spacing: Row to row 25-30 cm, plant to plant 8-10 cm and depth 2-3 cm.

Manures and fertilisers: The crop is usually manured with 5 to 10 t/ha FYM about a month before sowing. Generally fertilizer recommendations to get a good crop are 40 kg nitrogen, 20 kg P2O5 and 20 kg K2O per hectare. All the fertilizers should be applied as a basal dose at a time of sowing.

Water management: Kakun sown during Kharif season does not require any irrigation. However, if dry spell prevails for longer period, then first irrigation at 25-30 DAYS and second irrigation at 40-45 DAYS must be given to boost the yields.

Important weeds: Among grassy  weeds, Echinochloa colonum, Enhinochloa crusgulli (sawan), Dactyloctenium aegypticum (makra), Elusine indica (kodo), Setaria glauca (banra), Cynodon dactylon (doob), Phragmites karka (narkul), Cyperus rotundus (motha), Sorghum  halepanse (banchari) are common. The broad-leaved weeds are Celosia argentia (chilimil), Commelina benghalensis (kankoua), Phylanthus niruri (hulhul), Solanum nigrum (makoi) and Amaranthus viridis (chaulai).

Weed Control: Two to three weedings with hand hoe are sufficient to keep the weeds in control.Post-emergence application of 2, 4-D sodium salt (80%) @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha at 20-25 DAS. Isoproturon @ 1.0 kg a.i. /ha as pre-emergence spray is also effective in weeds control.

Diseases:

Downy mildew (Sclerospora graminicola): Diseased plants are dwarfed with excessive development of tillers. Lengthwise yellow- green streaks are seen on the leaves.

Control: Spray of 0.2% solution of Mancozeb 75 WP may help to control the disease and seed treatment is also helps in controlling the disease.

Kernel smut (Ustilago crameri) : The smut affected plants usually are stunted and the affected earheads convert into black masses.

Control: Seed treated with thiram or ceresan @ 2.5 g/kg of seed and soaking seeds in hot water at 55 oC for 7-12 minutes and the crop rotation is also helps in controlling the disease.

Insect-pests management:

Shoot fly: Apply Phorate @15 kg/ha (10% granules) in the soil at the time of field preparation or Carbofuran (Furadan) 3% granules @ 30 kg/ha in furrows or as broadcast before sowing.

Harvesting Time: The crop matures in 80-100 days. The crop is harvested when the earheads are dry, either by cutting the whole plant by sickle or the ears separately. The crop is usually harvested during Kharif season from September to October and Rabi season from January to February.

Yield: Grain-15-18 qtl/ha, Straw-20-40 qtl/ha.

Courtesy: DACFW

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How to grow and harvest barnyard millet

Barnyard millet is a grain crop of lesser importance. It is very drought resistant but is also capable of withstanding water logging conditions. It is generally grown as a rainfed crop. Kudiraivali grains are consumed just like rice. They are also used in making rice pudding (kheer). The digestibility of protein is 40 per cent. The grain is eaten mostly by the poor classes, but sometimes it is brewed the beer. It is also used as feed for cage birds. The straw makes good fodder for cattle. Its green fodder is very much relished by cattle.

Origin and History: There is a mention of barnyard millet in ancient literature of India. It has been cultivated in China for more than 2000 years. Some of the investigators think that barnyard millet probably originated somewhere in central Asia. It spread from central Asia to Europe and America.

Area and Distribution: Barnyard millet is grown in India, China, Japan, Malaysia and East Indies. In China and Japan it is said to be grown as a substitute crop when the rice crop fails. It is also to some extent in Africa and United States of America. In India it is grown in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar.

Botanical Description: It is an herbaceous annual which tillers sparsely. Plant grows up to a height of 60 to 120 centimetre. The roots are fibrous and shallow. Stem is slender. Leaves are flat, glabrous or slightly hairy without ligule. The inflorescence is a panicle with densely crowded unawned spikelets. Spikelets are densely packed in three to five rows. The spikelets are subsided by two glumes within which there are two florets. Colour of the glume varies from white to red. The caryopsis remains enclosed in the lemma and palea. Colour of the grain is generally yellow or white.

CROP MANAGEMENT

Climatic Requirements: Barnyard millet is a drought tolerant crop and hence is grown as a rainfed crop. It can be grown successfully under partially water logged conditions. It is grown from sea level to an altitude of 2000 metres on the Himalayan slopes. Warm and moderately humid climate is good for raising barnyard millet crop. It is a hardy crop and is able to withstand adverse conditions of weather better than other cereals.

Soil: Barnyard millet is generally cultivated in soils of marginal fertility. It can be grown in partially water logged soils such as low lands on the banks of rivers etc. But it thrives best on sandy loam to loam soil having sufficient amount of organic matter. Gravely and stony soils with poor fertility are not suitable for raising barnyard millet crop.

Field Preparation: Since it is cultivated in very light and marginal soils, the land is given only a limited preparatory cultivation. Two ploughings with local plough or harrowing followed by planking are sufficient to prepare the seedbed for barnyard millet.

Seed and Sowing: Barnyard millet can be sown in the first fortnight of July with the onset of monsoon rains. The seed is broadcast or drilled in furrows 3-4 centimetre deep at the rate of 8-10 kg per hectare. Transplanting is also done in some places in Maharashtra. It is always better to sow it in rows 25 centimetre apart. In flood affected areas, it is sown with the first showers of rain by broadcast method and harvested before the flood may come.

Manures and Fertilisers: Farm yard manure of compost at the rate of 5 to 10 tonnes per hectare should be added for boosting the yield. It can be supplemented with 40 kg nitrogen, 30 kg P2O5 and 50 kg K2O per hectare. All the fertilizer should be added in the soil at the time of sowing. If irrigation facilities are available, half of the nitrogen should be top dressed in standing crop after 25-30 days of sowing.

Water Management: Generally barnyard millet does not require any irrigation. However, if dry spell prevails for a long period, then one irrigation must be given at the time of panicle initiation stage. It is always better if excess water of heavy rains is drained out of the field.

Weed Control: The field should be kept weed free up to 25-30 days after sowing. Two weedings are sufficient to control the weeds in barnyard millet field. Weedings may be done with hand hoe or wheel hoe in line sown crop.

DISEASES

Downy Mildew: It is caused by a fungus. Sometimes it may cause severe damage to the crop plants. In the beginning the light yellow bands are seen on the leaves which in due course of time become white. Later on leaves start drying and in case of severe infection earheads become chaffy. Remove the infected plants and destroy them. Use seed from healthy plants only.

Smut: It is also caused by a fungus. The affected panicles are full of black masses instead of grains. This is a seed-borne disease and can be controlled by treating the seed with Agrosan G.N. or Ceresan at the rate of 2.5 g per kg of seed of hot water treatment (soaking seed in hot water at 550C for 7-12 minutes).

Rust: It is caused by a fungus. Black spots are seen in lines on leaves. It causes considerable reduction in grain yield. Spray of Dithane M-45 at the rate of 2 kg in 1000 litres of water per hectare may check the spread of this disease.

Insect Pests: Stem borer can be controlled by applying 15 kg Thimet granules per hectare.

Harvesting and Threshing: The crop should be harvested when it is ripe. It is cut from the ground level with the help of sickles and stacked in the field for about a week before threshing. Threshing is done by trampling under the feet of bullocks.

Yield: The average yield of grain is 400 to 600 kg per hectare and that of fodder or straw around 1200 kg per hectare. With improved package of practices it is possible to harvest 10-12 quintals of grain per hectare.

Courtesy : TNAU

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Where to buy small millet seeds for sowing

In this article let us know where to buy small millet seeds for sowing.

Small millets are an often overlooked staple food for milliions living in the harshest, food- insecure regions of the developing world. Small millets, a group of six crops comprising of finger millet, kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet and proso millet are considered as nutri cereals and are a source of food, feed and fodder. However, there has been a drastic decline in production and consumption of small millets mainly due to limited productivity, high drudgery, work load and incomes. 

Small millets in the Indian context include finger millet, kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, barnyard millet and browntop millet. 

There are few Organizations, Individuals, Farmers who would like to share their small millet seeds for sowing. Farmers can buy from them.

    Dwiji guru

    Basavanagudi, Bangalore

    9900054878

    https://themillet.org

    

    Dhan foundation

    http://dhanfoundation.org

    Deccan development society

    Zaheerabad, AP.

    https://ddsindia.com

    Sahaja samrudha

    Bangalore, Karnataka

    http://sahajasamrudha.org

    Navdanya

    Delhi

    http://navdanya.org

    Vanastree

    http://vanastree.org

    Aranya Agriculture alternatives

    http://permacultureindia.org

    Srinivas Raju (farmer)

    Anantapur, AP

    9739893832

    Krishna reddy ( farmer)

    Telangana, AP

    9100403473

If any other organizations, NGOs, Individuals,  who would share small millet seeds for the Farmers can add your location and contact details in the comment below.

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