5 Reasons Why Transplanted Seedlings Make For Better Yields

When done in the right way, farming can be a fulfilling and profitable profession. If you’re looking to improve your crop yields in the long run, it’s important to first understand and implement certain dos and don’ts into your farming practices.

Seedling transplantation is one procedure that you need to incorporate into your farming. Agricultural experts say that transplanted seedlings can bring with them a number of benefits.

The question arises, can transplanted seedlings help you achieve better crop yields? Just read on to find out more:

1. You’re supposed to transplant seedlings at an optimal stage of growth. If done at the right time, this process ensures that plants enjoy a higher survival rate and lower incidence of disease.
2. Because all the seedlings are raised in a nursery, you can maintain the purity of your land by de-weeding it beforehand. This means that your seedling have a better probability to thrive post transplantation.
3. When seeding your land in the traditional way, many of the seeds you’ve sown might not survive past the initial stage. However, when you choose to grow these seeds in a nursery, you end up using a lesser number of seeds due to optimal initial growing conditions. Your input costs can be lowered in this manner.
4. When you use transplanted seedlings, all your plants age evenly and can be harvested at one go. This is in contrast to traditionally sown plants, which grow in a haphazard manner—while some may be ready to harvest relatively soon, some can take their time to grow fully.
5. Transplanted crops have better root systems and grow quickly as opposed to traditionally seeded crops.

When you take the above reasons into account, transplanted seedlings are definitely the better choice. At Sneha Nursery, we use scientific techniques to nurture our seedlings, which can easily withstand transplantation shock.

If you have more questions about the methods we use, feel free to contact us on the number we’ve provided on our website.

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Store the grains - Get attacked by fungi and bacteria

1. Care must be taken to store the grains. After harvesting, the food grains may contain moisture.
2. If moisture is present in the grains they may easily get attacked by fungi and bacteria.
3. This reduces the quality, change the taste of food grains and cause grains lose their germinating capacity. Hence the grains must be dried in the sun before storage.
4. At home the farmers store food grains in metal bins and jute bags.
5. They also keep them in the bins and bags while storing food grains so that they cannot be attacked by microorganisms.
6. For storing food grains in large quantities silos and granaries or godowns are used.
7. Before storing food grains chemicals are sprayed in the grain storage area in order to kill pests and microorganisms.

Proposed 18% GST on purchase of unmanufactured tobacco riles farmers

Traders, manufacturers likely to bring down the purchase price of tobacco if they have to pay GST

The proposed levy of 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on purchase of unmanufactured tobacco has become a source of concern to the tobacco farmers in Karnataka.

Hitherto, traders and manufacturers were exempted from paying any tax while purchasing tobacco from auction platforms. The introduction of 18% GST on unmanufactured tobacco will indirectly hit farmers, said Javare Gowda, president, Virginia Flue Cured (VFC) Tobacco Growers’ Federation of Karnataka, told The Hindu.

“Much of the tobacco grown in Mysuru and adjoining regions is exported. Traders purchasing tobacco for international markets will compare prices and tax with other regions in the world before coming to the market. If they get the commodity elsewhere on the globe for a lesser price, they will skip our markets,” Mr. Gowda said.

Even though farmers need not pay the tax, sources in the Tobacco Board said tobacco growers are worried about the impact of introduction of GST on their interests.

Tobacco farmers in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, where auctions are under way, are already up in arms against the introduction of GST. “Farmers fear that the traders and manufacturers will bring down the purchase price when they have to pay GST, which will hit the farmers,” he said.

Tobacco farmers in Karnataka, who defied the drought and reaped a rich harvest last year, had completed the plantation early this year and were looking forward to a good yield.

Despite an increase in output last year, tobacco fetched the farmers a good price of ₹134.58 per kg against the ₹135.24 the previous year. “Thanks to the early rains this year, tobacco plantation in the region was completed before May-end unlike in previous years when the process would continue till July. Even the distribution of fertilizers was completed before May this year,” a board official added.

In view of the good season last year, the Tobacco Board too increased the crop size from 95 million kg to 99 million kg for this year. Hence, the area under tobacco cultivation has gone up marginally from 76,000 hectares last year to 81,000 hectares this year at the rate of 1.3 hectares per barn.

Even though the board has stopped issuing fresh licences for tobacco cultivation with a view to bring down its production in line with India’s commitment to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the number of licenced tobacco growers in the State has been hovering around 42,000 and the number of unlicenced growers around 30,000.

The farmers have resisted any move to abandon tobacco cultivation as there is no other alternative crop that is as remunerative as tobacco.

Cutting and Collecting a Crop

The process of cutting and collecting a crop is known as harvesting.

It can be done manually and mechanically. Manual method includes the cutting of crop plants using a sickle. The mechanical method involves using a machine called harvester.

After harvesting, the grains are separated from the chaff. This process is called threshing. The crop plants are beaten against a hard surface or the crop is spread on the ground and cattle are made to walk on it. In this way the grains are separated from their seed coat. Winnowing is used by small scale farmers. The lighter husk particles are carried away by wind and grains are separated. Now a days threshing is done by a machine called “combine” which is capable of harvesting and threshing.

Removing weeds from the crop plants

• The naturally grown unwanted or undesirable plants in the crop fields are called weeds.
• Weeds are harmful as they take more nutrients from the crop field. Weeds grow faster than crop plants by consuming more water and nutrients supplied for the crop.
• They also compete for space and sunlight. Therefore, weeds must be removed from the crop plants as they can affect the growth of the crop plants and reduce the yield from the crop. As weeds bear flowers and fruits earlier than crop plants, it is better to remove weeds before flowering stage.
• Removing weeds from the crop plants is called weeding.

Weeding can be done by two methods

1. Physical methods
2. Chemical methods

Physical Methods

1. Ploughing is one of the methods of weeding. Ploughing should be done before sowing seeds.
2. Removing weeds manually by cutting them close to the ground from time to time or by uprooting them with help of hand or a khurpi.
3. Seed drill is also used to uproot weeds.

Chemical Methods

When physical methods cannot be employed, weeding can done by spraying chemicals called weedicides.

Example: Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid.

The chemicals kill or stop the growth of weeds without damaging the crop plants. While spraying these weedicides, farmers have to take special care of themselves by covering their mouth and nose so that the chemicals cannot affect their health.

Modern Methods of Irrigation

Some traditional methods of irrigation are

• Moat
• Dhekli
• Rahat (lever system)
• Chain Pump

In all these traditional methods, human labour or cattle are used to lift water from the sources and take it to the fields. So these methods are cheaper but less efficient.

By using modern methods of irrigation, wastage of water can be minimized making those more economical than traditional methods.

The modern methods of irrigation are:

Sprinkler System

1. This method of irrigation involves a main pipe line, to which perpendicular pipes with rotating nozzles at the top are connected at regular intervals.
2. When water is supplied through the main pipeline under high pressure, water comes out from the rotating nozzles to the main pipe.
3. Water gets sprinkled throughout the field as if it is raining. This technique is more useful in uneven lands where there is scarcity of water and in sandy soil.

Drip System

1. This method involves a network of narrow tubes with small holes at regular intervals used throughout the field.
2. In this system water is allowed to flow through the pipes and is delivered drop by drop into the soil exactly at the roots so that water is not wasted at other places.

Advantages of Irrigation

Irrigation

• Like we all need water, plants also need water for their growth and development.
• Plants absorb water from the soil through roots. While absorbing, plants take all the nutrients and fertilizers supplied along with the water.
• Due to continuous evaporation from the surface, the amount of water present in the soil decreases.
• Since plants can not take water from lower depths, farmers supply water to the crop plants at different intervals depending on the need.
• The requirement of water differs from crop to crop and also from season to season. Some crops like paddy require the presence of water in the field during transplantation unlike other crops like cotton, gram and wheat.

"The process of supplying water to crop plants at different intervals is called irrigation."

Advantages of Irrigation

• Fields are irrigated before ploughing because water makes the soil soft and ploughing becomes easier.
• Water in the field helps to provide sufficient moisture for the germination of seeds.
• For healthy growth of crop and to get good produce from the plants, the crops must be irrigated.
• Crops are protected from hot air current and frost in the irrigation fields. 

Sources of irrigation

Water is taken from different sources like rivers, tube wells, open well, canal, reservoir of dams etc. for irrigation of crop fields. Farmers use different methods to lift water depending up on the availability of water sources.

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Manure vs Fertilizers

1. Manure

Manure is an organic substance. Manure is made by decomposing organic matter like animal waste and plant residue.
To prepare manure, farmers dump animal wastes like cow dung and plant wastes like hay and leaves in pits at open places. These wastes are decomposed by micro-organisms and get converted into manure.

Advantages of Manure

1. Manure makes the soil porous and increases the water holding capacity of soil
2. It improves the texture of the soil.
3. Manure increases the number of useful microbes in the soil. Hence it is considered better than fertilizers.

2. Fertilizers

Fertilizers are inorganic salts made in factories.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Fertilizers are rich in a specific plant nutrient such as nitrogen, phosphorous or potassium Fertilizers are more soluble in water and can be quickly absorbed by plants.	Excessive use of chemical fertilisers reduces soil fertility. Fertilisers reduce porous nature of soil which leads to water logging. When fertilisers are washed away by rain water, it leads to water pollution.

Advantages of Manure over fertilizers
When compared, organic manure is more desirable and effective than fertilisers. Because: Manure increases the soil capacity allowing to hold it water in large quantity. The interchange of gases becomes easy since manure has made the soil penetrable. The number of friendly microorganisms are increased. The smoothness of the soil has also been increased due to addition of manure.

Agricultural Implements Used for Sowing

The following are the tools a farmer may use for sowing: 

Traditional tool 

The traditional tool is made of wood or iron. It has a long tube with a funnel at the top. The tool is tied to a plough. Seeds are poured into the funnel. During this process, the plough makes borrows in the soil allowing the seeds from the funnel pass through.

Seed drill

ADVANTAGES OF A SEED DRILL

1. Seeds can be sown in a regular row.
2. Seeds are sown at proper depth with sufficient space between them.
3. Seeds get covered by the soil and cannot be picked up by birds.
4. It saves time and labour.

Good quality seeds

After preparing the soil by ploughing, a farmer selects good quality seeds to sow. Clean and healthy seeds of a good variety are called good quality seeds.

Watch the video below to see how a farmer selects seeds.

SELECTION OF SEEDS

To select good quality seeds, keep all the seeds in a container filled with water. We observe most of the seeds sink at the bottom and some seeds float on water. The seeds damaged by microbes or insects become hollow and float on water. The seeds that sink in water are good quality seeds.

Sowing

After selecting good quality seeds, a farmer sows them. The process of scattering seeds in the soil is called sowing.

• Sowing can be done manually by hand or by using tools (agricultural implements).
• Scattering seeds by hand is called broadcasting.
• When seeds are scattered by hand, they cannot be sown with proper spacing and cannot be placed at proper depth.
• As a result, the seeds on the surface of the soil can be easily picked up by birds.
• Proper distance between the seeds is important to avoid over-crowding of plants. Spacing helps plants to get sufficient sunlight, nutrients, and water from the soil.

Agricultural Implements used for Preparation of Soil

Agricultural Implements are nothing but tools. The main agricultural tools used for ploughing are:

Plough

• Wooden plough is used for ploughing the field since ancient times.
• It has a long log of wood called plough shaft.
• One end of the shaft has a handle. It contains a triangular iron strip.
• The other end of the shaft is attached to a beam. This beam is placed on the neck of bullocks.
• While ploughing, the plough share digs deep into the soil and breaks it.
• Nowadays, iron ploughs are increasingly being used in the place of wooden ploughs.

Hoe

• Hoe has a long rod of wood or iron.
• It has a handle at one end. Below the handle, it has a strong broad and bent plate of iron which acts like a blade.
• It has a beam at the other end which is placed on a bullock's neck

Cultivator

• Cultivator is a tractor driven tool generally used for ploughing very large fields.
• Since this method is mechanically advanced, ploughing with a cultivator saves time and labour.

Preparation of Soil

Ploughing?

• Preparation of soil is the first step in the crop production.
• Soil becomes hard during summer and it must be loosened in order to grow crops.
• This process of loosening and turning of soil is called ploughing or tilling.

ADVANTAGES OF PLOUGHING (OR) TILLING

1. When soil is loose, roots can grow deep into the soil and plants are held more firmly to the ground
2. Loosened soil allows the roots to breathe easily.
3. It allows earthworms and other microbes to grow. These organisms further loosen the soil and add humus to it.
4. Ploughing brings the nutrients to the top so those can be absorbed by the plants.
5. Ploughing also helps in mixing of manure with the soil.
6. Ploughing uproots and kills weeds.

Levelling?

• When soil is dry, it breaks into large pieces called crumbs.
• These crumbs are broken with a plank and the soil is then levelled with a leveller so that it cannot be carried away by water or blown away by wind.
• This process is called levelling.

Basic Practices of Crop Production

In order to cultivate a crop, a farmer performs a large number of activities. These activities or practices performed by the farmer during crop production are called agricultural practices. There are seven agricultural practices.

SEVEN AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

1. Preparation of soil
2. Sowing
3. Adding manure and fertilizers
4. Irrigation
5. Removal of weeds
6. Harvesting
7. Storage of grains

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