ICAR Rabi season Agro Advisory for Manipur

Agronomy & Horticulture

• Left over soil moisture after harvesting of kharif paddy should be utilised low water requirement crops such as lentil, latharus, field pea, chickpea, and rape seed mustard etc.
• Sowing of rabi crops should be started from mid-October to ending November.
• Field pea varieties, Aman, Prakash, Rachna and Aparna should be sown at a seed rate of 60 to 80kg/ha with a spacing of 30cm x 10cm.
• Chickpea var. JG-14, JG-16 should be taken up at a seed rate of 60- 80kg/ha with spacing 30cm x 10cm.
• Lentil variety HUL-57 can either be grown in residual moisture (utera cultivation/relay cropping) or with little irrigation after harvest of paddy with a seed rate of 40-50 kg/ha at a spacing of 30cm × 10cm.
• For acidic soil, liming should be done at sowing time by using Ca CO₃ @ 500 kg/ ha in furrows. Apply NPK@ 20:40:20 kg/ha for rabi pulses.

Rapeseed-mustard

• As relay crop- If soil moisture is optimum (when step on the soil, footprints are observable but not much impression is made) and supposed to be dried up at the time of harvesting, the seeds should be sown just before 4-7 days of harvesting rice crop so that it can germinate using the conserved moisture.
• Sowing seeds and straw mulching: Seeds should be sown directly into the field and planking follows to fall down the stiff stubbles and then rice straw should be scattered very thinly over the entirely field.
• Suitable variety of Manipur- Toria var.: M-27, TS-36 and TS-38,
  Yellow sarson: Ragini, Mustard: NRCHB-101
• Seed rate: 12-14kg/ha. Seeds may be mixed with sand (3to3.5 kg seed+ 2 kg sand for 0.25 ha area) and broadcast.
• Apply fertilizer dose of 88 kg urea+130 kg SSP+ 33 kg MOP. Total quantity of SSP (130kg) + half of MOP (16kg) should be applied at sowing. First half urea (44kg) should be applied when 1-2 true leaves emerged and the remaining 44 kg with remaining 17 kg MOP should be applied at 25-30 days after first application.
• Rabi maize should be sown from mid-October to ending November with suitable variety such as HQPM-1, HQPM-5, RCM-76 @ 20 kg/ha with spacing 60 cm×20cm. Apply 10 t/ha FYM or Compost 10-15 days prior to sowing, 150-180 kg N, 70-80 kg P₂O₅, 70-80 kg K₂O and 25 kg ZnSO₄.
• While carrying out the field activities, safe distance of 3-4 ft should be maintained and engaging more number of people on the same day should be avoided.
• Preparation of nursery raised beds for sowing of seeds of rabi vegetables (cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, chilli, tomato, onion, garlic, radish, carrot, beat root etc.) may be done during Sep-Oct and transplanting should be done 30-45 days after sowing depending upon the crops.
• Recommended and known varieties of Cabbage (Green Hero, Rare Ball), Cauliflower (White Excel, Sweta, Pusa snowball etc.), broccoli (Green magic, Harumi 88, Puspa etc.), tomato (Arka Rakshak, Arka Samrat), Onion (Arka Lalima, Bhima Shakti, Bhima Kiran, Prema) can be used. Seeds should be procured from reliable sources.
• Farmers are advised to grow the leafy vegetables which have high medicinal values.
• Farmers are advised to treat vegetable seeds with Trichoderma viride or Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 5-10 g/ l of water for controlling damping off. Seeds should be soaked for specified period of time and dried into shade properly before sowing. Vegetable nursery should be sown in line to avoid further spread of any diseases on 15-25 cm high raised beds. FYM @ 4 kg/m² should be incorporated in soil during nursery bed preparation. Proper drainage should be provided to avoid water logging and rotting of seedlings. Line spacing of 10-12cm should be marked before sowing of seeds.
• Ideal time for sowing of King chilli is Dec- Jan. The medium of nursery bed should consist in the same ratio of vermicompost, garden soil and sand (1:1:1 by volume). Sowing should be done on raised nursery beds of 1m width with convenient length or on plastic trays or wooden boxes etc. Transplanting of seedlings should be done 30-45 days after germination in the month of FebMarch for early harvest.
• Prepare fields for rabi season vegetable crops by mixing 15-20 tonnes/ha of well decomposed Farm Yard Manure. Apply compost/FYM to soil 3 weeks before sowing or last ploughing to get better results (increased fertility and water holding capacity of soil). Enrich FYM with bio agents like Trichoderma and Pseudomonas sp.
• Grow triple disease resistant varieties of Tomato like Arka Rakshak, Arka Samrat for higher yield. Transplanting of seedlings should be done at 60 x 60 cm or 45 x 45 cm. Apply NPK @ 120:80:80 kg/ha, 400g of seeds is sufficient for raising nursery for transplanting 1ha. Ensure staking with bamboo while planting indeterminate varieties of tomato like Arka Rakshak and Arka Samrat on raised bed. Plants should be kept weed free and avoid water stagnation. Biodegradable poly films may be used for mulching to conserve soil moisture and control weed infestation.
• Proper weed management practices of crops like mulching with locally available materials (rice straw, rice husk etc.) prevent to soil erosion and conserves moisture thereby controlling weed growth. Other practices like hoeing, earthing up, irrigation should be followed timely.
• Need based irrigation and other intercultural operation should be carried out at regular intervals in vegetable crops.
• Constant monitoring of crops against insect pest attack and roguing of infected plants regularly is advised. In solanaceous crops, constant monitoring of borers by using pheromone traps 10-15/ha is advised.
• Hand glove and mask should always be worn during the spraying of fungicides and insecticides in the field and equipment should be washed properly before and after use.
• After harvesting of the vegetable crops (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, beans, tomato, potato, and onions), the supply of the harvested produce to market may be done via the agency/sellers/vendors, middlemen identified by the State Government or with the help of FPO and SHGs as per the demands.
• Safety measures to be followed while harvesting potato, cabbage, vegetable pea, storage, and transport to markets. Adequate personal safety measures to be taken for loading and transporting of farm produce. Precautions to be followed for direct marketing/ supply of vegetables such as tomato, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables, peas, cabbage from farms.
• Shelf life of harvested tomato, potato and onions can be extended by adopting traditional method (cool ventilated bamboo structure, zero energy cool chamber) in case of delay in marketing. Store potato in cool, well ventilated bamboo structures with no windows on 3 to 4-inch layer of dry sand.
• After digging the onion, dry it in the shade for 3 days and separate the bulb of the onion by breaking the stalk from 1.5-2 cm, this will increase the storage capacity of onion. Garlic should be harvested with stalks and leaves.
• Farmers should preserve required quantity of indigenous quality seeds (king chilli, garden pea, red potato (Aberchaibi), broad bean etc.) for next season.
• Local indigenous herbs like allium spp, eryngo, houttuyniacordata etc. should be grown.

Fisheries

• Farmers are advised to maintain the water depth up to six feet as temperature of the surface water is colder than the bottom layers; the fish prefers to live in the bottom zone.
• The farmers are advised to aerate their ponds either by adding fresh water or by using aerators, especially during early hours of the day as oxygen levels decline in ponds due to reduced photosynthetic activity.
• It is advisable to provide low protein diets and necessarily reducing the addition of organic manures in the pond. It is also advised to go for periodic raking of bottom soil.
• Feeding rate should be reduced by 50-75% depending on the temperature.
• During winters, various diseases (fungal, bacterial, and parasitic) like fin rot, gill rot, EUS and argulosis are commonly encountered. Treating the pond with CIFAX @ 1 litre /ha just before the onset of winters may reduce the disease problems. Treatment of potassium permanganate @ 2.5 -5 kg/ Ha or lime @ 125-300 kg/Ha. Salt application @ 250 kg/Ha also helps in protecting fish against disease outbreak during winters.

Agricultural Engg.

• Manually harvesting/ picking, accomplish the operation in 4-5feet spaced strips assigning one strip to one person. This will ensure adequate spacing between the engaged labour. 
• All the persons engaged should use masks and ensure hand washing with shop at reasonable intervals.
• Maintain safe distance of 3-4 feet during rest, taking of meals, transfer of produce at collection point, loading/unloading.
• Stagger the field operations wherever possible and avoid engaging a greater number of persons on the same day.
• Engage only the healthy persons to the extent possible and after reasonable enquiry as to avoid the entry of any suspect or likely carrier during field activity.
• Prefer mechanized operations over the manual ones wherever feasible. Only the essential numbers of persons should be allowed to accompany the machine.
• Farm machinery should be hired from Custom hiring centre and sanitize every after used.
• All Farm machines should be sanitized at the entry point and at regular intervals. All transport vehicles, gunny bags or other packaging material should also be sanitized.
• The collection of the produce may be done in small heaps spaced at 3-4 feet and field level processing should be assigned to 1-2 persons/heap to avoid crowding.
• Farm level storage like Zero Energy cool chambers should be used for storing of fruits and vegetables to avoid immediate rush to the market.
• Low cost Pusa Concentric Onion Storage Structure should be used for storing of Onion to control high rotting percentage and fungal infestation of onion under normal condition.

Plant Protection

• Restrictions due to lock down might limit the availability of plant protection chemicals.
• Rather than curative measures, preventive measures using various methods with locally available resources will serve as a promising alternative in maintaining the plant health.
• Cultural, Physical & mechanical methods and use of Indigenous Technology Knowledge (ITK) and also sharing the most effective ITKs amongst farmers provided Social Distancing and maintaining proper hygiene will play a key role in protecting the crop form various Insect pest and diseases during and after the lock down.

Cultural Methods

• Roguing of disease plants, removal of undesirable plants that might serve as reservoir for insect pest and disease etc helps in reducing pest and diseases incidence.
• Selection of clean and certified seeds and treating seeds with fungicide or bio-pesticides before sowing for seed borne disease control.
• Rotation of crops with non-host crops helps in reduction of incidence of soil borne diseases.
• Planting of mustard as a trap crop in every 15 rows of cabbage can effectively manage diamond back moth.
• Marigold planting with solanaceae, crucifers, legumes, cucurbits can lower the incidence of nematodes. In  tomato  marigold or cucumber is commonly used as trap crop for every 15 rows of the main crop to attract tomato fruit borer.

Mechanical Methods

• Sun Drying of grains effectively reduce stored grain pests such as rice weevil, pulse beetle etc.
• Light Trap serve many purpose like monitoring initial infestation, Seasonal incidence, trapping and killing.
• Hand picking of red hairy caterpillar and destruction of egg masses of Pierisrapae (Cabbage white butter fly), Spodopteraetc helps in eliminating the insect pest in vegetable crop such as cabbage, cauliflower etc
• Banding with grease or polythene effectively controls mango mealy bugs.
• Locally made yellow traps made of locally available material applied with petroleum jelly or castor oil can be used to effectively manage aphids in rapeseed mustard, cucumber, and other vegetables.
• Traps can be made using ripe mash papaya in a container with a hole to capture both male and female fruit flies for Pumpkin, tomato, mango, watermelon etc.
• Keeping of bird perches in the field for allowing birds to sit and feed on insects and their eggs, larvae and pupae stages.
• Specific pheromones, traps can be  used  to monitor and mass trapping of target pests.
• Methyl eugenol can be used as fruit fly’s traps.
• Following Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITKs) may be used for various plant protection measure

Community Science

• Surplus tomato produces to be converted into tomato puree and ketchup.
• Washing of hand with soap or rub with hand sanitizer before preparation of food and lactating the babies.
• Supplementing and weaning foods should be prepared with locally available rice, dal, soybean after proper washing, drying and grading.
• Maximum nutrient loss minimization practices to be followed while preparing food to avoid nutrient loss and wastage.
• Sun drying (shade) to be encouraged for any surplus leafy vegetables and fruits.
• Drinking water should be boiled and boiled water be used for rinsing utensils before serving food.

Animal Science

• Deworm your animals with Albendazole or Fenbendazole @ 10mg/kg body weight.
• Vaccinate your pigs with swine fever vaccine.
• Keep your duckling worm specially during winter night.
• Oath folder seedling should be done during October and November for cattle feed.
• Protect your birds from coccidiosis by giving cordinal powder/ Furasol powder @ 1g/litre of drinking water.
• Apply paste of ferrous sulphate with gur at the teats of feeding sow to protect from piglet anaemia. 

Source : ICAR Rabi Agro-Advisory for farmers