Ludhiana: Diversify crops with pulses during Kharif season, PAU to farmers

With the commencement of Kharif season, rice experts at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have called upon the farmers of the state to go in for potato, wheat-moong, mash, short duration rice varieties cropping system to promote agricultural and economic sustainability.
Vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal said, “The cropping systems such as rice-wheat-summer moong, rice-potato-summer moong, DSR-wheat-summer moong, rice-gobhi sarson-summer moong hold good promise to maximize profitability. The cultivation of summer moong or mash would give additional income to the farmers and would also improve the soil health along with lowering of nitrogen requirement of following rice crop.”
“It is recommended that if the crop of summer moong or mash is ploughed into the field after picking pods, then farmers can reduce the urea dose of parmal rice by one-third, while there is no need to apply urea to the basmati crop,” he V-C added.
Additional director research (crop improvement) GS Mangat, said PAU had recommended the summer moong variety SML 1827, which takes only 62 days to mature. “It is resistant to yellow mosaic disease and on average gives 5.0 quintal yield per acre. It has medium-sized, shiny green grains with excellent cooking quality characteristics. It could be sown up to the third week of April. Sowing could be done with seed drill, kera, pora, zero-till drill, happy seeder by using 12 kg seed per acre in rows at 22.5 cm spacing,” he added.
Mangat said inoculating the seed with a single packet of consortium biofertilizer, Rhizobium sp LSMR-1 and Rhizobacterium RB-3 before sowing. “Drill 11 kg urea along with 100 kg of superphosphate per acre at the time of sowing of summer moong after wheat. The summer crop sown after potato needs no fertilizer,” he added.
The varsity had recommended the summer mash variety Mash 1137, which takes 74 days to mature. Mangat said, “It is also resistant to yellow mosaic disease and on average gives 4.5 quintal yield per acre. It has medium bold, blackish grains with good cooking quality characteristics. It could be sown up to first week of April. The sowing can be done by using 20 kg seed per acre in rows at 22.5 cm spacing.”
Mangat advised to inoculate the seed with Rhizobium culture (LUR-6) before sowing, drill 11 kg urea along with 60 kg of superphosphate per acre at the time of sowing to summer mash sown after toria, raya, potato. After the harvesting of moong or mash, the farmers could grow the short duration varieties of paddy or basmati varieties.
Rice agronomist Buta Singh Dhillon said during the last few years, PAU had recommended short duration high yielding varieties (HYV) of parmal and basmati rice, namely PR 126, Pusa Basmati 1509 and Pusa Basmati 1847, which mature in about 93, 95 and 99 days after transplanting, respectively.
Due to shorter duration, these varieties save irrigation water and enable the adoption of multiple cropping systems, he added. These also require fewer resources such as fertilisers, pesticides and labour.
Dhillon urged the farmers of the state to adopt multiple cropping systems involving pulses. It would enhance their income, save natural resources and improve the soil health.
The seeds of these varieties are available at various Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Farm Advisory Service Centres (FASCs), Regional Research Stations (RRSs) and University Seed Farms (USFs) located in different districts of Punjab.