Spices and Condiments (1+1)

Cultivation, land preparation and sowing

Propagation
It is propagated readily by seeds, but can also be grown by root or corm divisions. The seeds are broadcasted or line-sown by shallow drills. Soaking seeds prior to sowing improves germination. The seeds can be sown in a nursery bed and later the seedlings are transplanted to the field when they attain 8-10 cm height.
For transplanted crop, seeds are sown in the nursery during the months of May-June and seedling of 11/2 — 2 months are transplanted in the main field in August-September.

Land preparation and sowing
The field is brought to a fine tilth by continuous ploughing and laid out into beds of convenient size along with the irrigation channels. It is manured with 25 tonnes of FYM along with the basal dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash.
The seeds are either broadcasted or drilled in rows at a 45-60 cm spacing for rain-fed and 40-80 cm apart for irrigated crops. About 8-10 kg seeds per hectare are required for drilling and 3-4 kg/ha for transplanted crop. When the seedlings are 8-10 cm in height they are thinned in rows at 10 cm in the rain-fed and 40-45 cm in irrigated crop.