Seed Production of Vegetable, Tuber and Spice Crops (2+1)

Method of seed production

Method of seed production

• Seed to Seed
Varieties

• KM1, PKM 1 and PKM 2
Land requirement

• Good drainage facility is must for moringa
Isolation requirement

• A distance of at least 1000m for foundation and 500m for certified seed production is necessary
Season

• Early season (July – August),
  
• Mid season (September),
  
• Late season (October- November),
• Best season is September- October (so that flowering starts during summer which facilities better pollination and seed set)
Pit preparation

• The field should be ploughed twice for good tilth. Pit size with 45 x 45 x 45 cm, one week prior to sowing / planting should be prepared.
  
• Spacing between the pits must be 2 ½ x 2 ½ m.
  
• Filling up of pit with application of 15 kg FYM or compost per pit along with field soil
Sowing

• Seeds are readily germineable (non dormant). However, soaking the seeds in water, overnight will hastern the germination processes. Placing two seeds per pit in the sowing depth of 2.5 cm is practiced. Normally the seeds germinate within seven days.
• Simultaneously filling the FYM and soil mixtures in poly bags and placing one seed per bag and keeping it as reserve for gap filling. At least 50 seedlings are needed for gap filling.
Seed rate

• 450 g/ha
Irrigation

• The field should be irrigated once in a week up to three months and once in ten days thereafter. Water stagnation should be avoided. During pod development, irrigation once in five days is enough for better pod development.
After cultivation

• Pinching is done when the plant is 90 -100 cm height for better establishment of side branches. Two pinching may be done at 20-25 days intervals.
Flowering

• Flowering starts 5-6 months after sowing. Pod and seeds takes three months to develop.
• During flowering, irrigation should be restricted to avoid flower dropping and liberal irrigation should be given during pod development.
  
• Application of micronutrient and spraying of planofix (NAA) to arrest the flower shedding is followed.
Manuring

• Application of 100 g urea, 100 g Super Phosphate and 50 g MOP per pit is recommended, three months after sowing again 100 g urea per pit at the time of flowering should be given.
Plant protection
Pests
Fruit fly

• Spraying of dichlorvos (1 ml/lit) or fenthion 1.5 ml/lit to control fruit flies when pods are about 20 – 30 days old.
Bud worm, leaf caterpillar and leaf webber

• Dust carbaryl 10 D at 25 kg/ha or spray carbaryl 50 WP @ 2 g/lit.
Hairy caterpillar

1. Use flame torch when the caterpillars settle on the tree trunk.
2. Spray chlorpyriphos 20 EC or quinalphos 25 EC @ 2 ml/lit.
Disease

• The disease like root rot can be controlled by root drenching with copper oxychloride @ 0.2%.
Roguing

• Based on the plant stem characters, during early stage, the rouges should be completely pulled out and gap may be filled. During pod development and maturity stages, based on pod character the roguing should be done for example the pods with more than 70 cm and cylindrical shape alone should be harvested incase of PKM1. Pods with tri-faced shape should be rejected.
Field Standards

Factors	Foundation	Certified
Off types	0.10%	0.20%
Plants affected by seed borne pathogens	0.10%	0.50%



Harvesting and processing

• The change of pod colour to brown is the maturity index; at that stage the seed colour will be black. 3-4 pickings may be done. After harvest, the pods are dried under the sun for 2 days and the seeds are extracted manually by split open the pod. Sun drying the seeds should be followed during morning and evening hours. The small, ill filled, brown coloured and damaged seeds are separated manually or graded by using 24/64” round perforated sieves. The seeds are dried to 7-8% moisture content level. The seeds are treated with capton / thiram @ 4 g per kg of seed and packed in cloth / polythene bags. Normally seeds are viable for one year.
Seed yield

• Approximately 150 pods per tree with 15 seeds per pod. i.e., 500g seed per tree and approximately 250 kg /ha
Ratooning

• One ratooning can be allowed for certified seed production as per the certification procedures. However, more ratooning can be practiced for truth fully labeled seed production. The trees are cut at a height of 90 cm and followed the same cultural operations as followed for the main crop. Application of 25 kg FYM/pit and irrigation immediately after ratooniing is necessary.
Seed standards

Factors	Foundation	Certified
Pure seed	96%	95%
Inert matter	4%	5%
Germination	70%	70%
Moisture	8%	8%