Introduction to major field crops (1+1)

Water Management

Rapeseed and mustard are usually raised as rainfed on the conserved soil moisture. Hence, efforts should be made to conserve as much water as possible by bunding and levelingthe field before the monsoon and ploughing during the monsoon season, bulky organic manures are applied to the soil to improve moisture storage capacity of soil and evaporation losses of moisture are minimized by the use of mulching or intercultivation. Crops do respond to irrigation as well. There should not be deficiency of moisture at pre-flowering and pod filling stage. The total water requirement of these crops is 400 mm. About 3-4 irrigations are required in light soils and 2-3 irrigations in heavy soils.