Int. J. Agricult. Stat. Sci. Vol. 10, Supplement 1, pp. 105- 108,2014
ISSN: 0973-1903
SEQUENTIAL DOUBLE CROPPING SYSTEM OF MAKHANA (EURYALE
FEROX SALISB.) CULTIVATION IN AGRICULTURAL FIELDS OF NORTH
BIHAR, INDIA
Lokendra Kumar*, V. K. Gupta, I. S. Singh, B. P. Bhatt! and Devendra Kumar2
ICAR-RCER, Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga - 846005, India.
I ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna - 800014, India.
2Project Directorate for Farming System Research, Modipuram, Meerut - 250 110, India.
E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Makhana (Euryaleferox Salisb.) is an aquatic crop mostly grown in stagnant fresh water bodies of north Bihar, Assam, West Bengal and Manipur etc. To explore the possibility of two crops of makhana per year in the same field, the present study was conducted during 2011 and 2012 at the Research Farm ofICAR-RCER, Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga, Bihar. During both the years, the transplantation of first crop was made in the first week of February and its harvesting was made in the last week of June. In the same field the second crop was transplanted in the first week of July and harvested in the last week of October. All standard package of practices were followed to raise the good experimental crops of makhana. The mean values of seed yield of spring crop of makhana was observed to be 3.04 tlha while the yield potential ofkharif crop was recorded to be 2.23 t/ha. However. the yield potential ofkharif crop was not at par with the spring crop, yet it was very high as compared to the productivity of traditional crop ofmakhana in pond system (1.0-1.2 t/ha). The net return of these two makhana crops was recorded as Rs. 1.00,305/- and R~. 80,205/- for spring and kharif crops, respectively. Findings of this study suggest that per year, two crops of makhana could be grown successfully in the field system of makhana cultivation.
Key words: Aquatic crop, Euryaleferox Salisb., Field system, Makhana cultivation, Sequential double cropping, Yield.
1. Introduction Makhana (Euryaleferox Salisb.) is a very important annual plant of Nymphaeaceae family. The popped seeds are the main edible part of this aquatic plant and are sold as one of the premium dry fruits in the local market. In addition to high nutritional value, makhana has a number of medicinal properties [Jha et al. (1991 )]. The seeds of makhana are used in the treatment of a number of ailments related to reproductive, cardiac, circulatory and digestive systems of human beings [Das et al. (2006)]. Generally, makhana is considered to be a crop of perennial water bodies (ponds, lakes, land depressions, ditches and swamps etc.) having a stagnant water depth of 4-6 feet [Kumar et al. (2011)]. In these water bodies, the crop season of makhana starts with the germination of left out seeds of previous crop in February month and ends with the harvesting of its seeds in October *Authorforcorrespondence Received December 12,2013
month. Due to high depth of water, the agronomic management of this crop in these water bodies becomes very difficult and as a result the average productivity of this crop is very low (1.0-1.2 t/ha). Further, due to decreasing number of natural water bodies, the area under this crop is shrinking year after year. Therefore, to enhance the productivity and cultivable area under this crop, a field based makhani:! production technology has been developed by ICAR-RCER, Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga. On account of proper agronomic management in shallow (1.0 ft.) agricultural fields, the yield potential of makhana under this system scales 2-3 times higher than the pond system- [Kumar e tal. (2011)]. Intervention of nursery raising technology, in field mode has curtailed the crop duration to 4-5 months as against the normal 10 months crop period in the pond system. Present study was carried out to explore the possibility of sequential double cropping of Revised April 16, 2014
Accepted April 28, 2014
126
123
108
Spring crop
Kharif crop 113
130
Days to 100% flowering
147
154
Leaf dia meter (em)
7.12
8.23
Fruit dia meter (em)
Seeds! fruit 89 72
Days to fruit bursting 157 144
3,000.00 200.00
Irrigation (5 times)
Labour charges (30 Labour) for nursery uprooting, Transplanting, irrigation and weeding etc.
15,000.00
1.89
BC ratio
BC ratio
Net return (Rs./ha)
100,655.00
Net return (Rs./ha)
2.06
80,555.00
1,56,100.00
70,000.00
Total market value of produce ( 2.225 ton seed)
1,000.00
2,13,500.00
Total market value of produce ( 3.05 ton seed)
1,000.00
2,000.00
33,375.00
6,000.00
6,000.00
75,545.00
Other miscellaneous charges
~
3,000.00
~ :-
l:l
~
S 4,170.00
PJ
~ Einil
nil
6,000.00
2,000.00
2,000.00
10,000.00
Total cost (Rs.)
2.23
3.05
Seed yield (tlha)
Total input cost
1,000.00
2,000.00
Harvesting of crop (2.225 ton of makhana seed) Transportation charges
4,5675.00 2,000.00
200.00
Labour charges (30 Labourers) for nursery uprooting, transplanting, irrigation and weeding etc.
6,000.00
3,000.00 3,000.00
Insect and disease control
104
112
100 seed weight (g)
Urea @ Rs 6/kg DAP@ Rs 24/kg MOP@ Rs 17/kg
nil
nil
2,000.00
2,000.00
100.00
10,000.00
Rate!unit (Rs.)
1.11
1.16
Seed dia meter (em)
Irrigation (2 times)
15.000.00
3,000.00
Chemical fertilizers (125 kg Urea, 100 kg DAP and 60 kg MOP)
FYM
Bundmaking
1,000.00
Kharif crop
867
1152
Seed, yield! plant (g)
Ploughing, Planking and Puddling of field (3 times)
112845.00 70,000.00
2
Nursery raising (in 500 m )charges
Seed (20 kg)
77
96
Seed yield! fruit (g)
6,000.00
2,000.00
Total cost of inputs (Rs/ha)
1,000.00
3,000.00
Insect and disease control
Other miscellaneous charges
Urea @ Rs 6/kg DAP@ Rs 24/kg MOP@ Rs 17/kg
Chemical fertilizers (125 kg Urea, lOa kg DAP and 60 kg MOP)
15,000.00
1,000.00
FYM (15. ton)
2,000.00
1,000.00
Bundmaking
Harvesting of crop (3.045 ton of makhana seed)
4,170.00
2,000.00
Ploughing, Planking and Puddling of field (3 times)
Transportation charges
15,000.00
2,000.00
Nursery raising (in 500 me) charges
2000.00
100.00
Seed (20 kg)
Rent of land (for six months)
10,000.00
Rent of land (for six months)
10,000.00
802
1047
Seeds! plant
Name of the input
II
12
Fruits! plant
Total cost (Rs.)
Rate!unit (Rs.)
Name of the input
Spring crop
Table 2 : Comparative economic analysis of spring seasons and kharif season crops of makhana.
110
Days to 50% flowering
Days to flowering initiation
Crop season
Table 1 : Mean values of different traits of makhana crop in spring and kharif seasons of 20 II and 20 12.
§
Sequential Double Cropping System ofMakhana Cultivation in Agricultural Fields of North Bihar, India
107
Fig. 1 : A view of main season (spring season) makhana crop at vegetative stage.
Fig.2: A view of off season (kharif season) makhana crop at flowering stage.
makhana in agriculture fields with a view of proper utilization of the fallow rnakhana fields with abundant rain water.
3. Results and Discussion
2. Materials and Methods The present experiment was carried out during 2011 and 2012 at the Research Farm of ICAR-RCER, Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga, Bihar. The first crop of this experiment was transplanted in the first week of February, 2011. To raise this crop, the healthy seedlings of "Sel-6" strain of makhana were transplanted at a spacing of 1.20m x 1.25 ill. in a 500m2 area of a well prepared shallow field (l ft. depth). All standard package of practices were followed to raise a good experimental crop of makhana. This crop was harvested in the last week of June, 2011. After harvesting the first crop, the seedlings of the same strain were transplanted for second crop in the same field in the first week of July, 2011. The harvesting of second crop was made in the first week of November, 2011. For the validation of results, this experiment was repeated in the same manner in the next year also. In each crop, the observations were recorded on plot basis and plant basis (25 randomly selected plants) for yield and yield contributing traits namely, days to flowering initiation, days to 50% flowering, days to 100% flowering, leaf diameter, fruit diameter, days to fruit bursting, number of seeds per fruit, number of fruits per plant, number of seeds per plant, seed yield per fruit, seed yield per plant, seed diameter, 100-seed weight and seed yield/ha.
The mean values of yield and yield contributing traits (Table 1) revealed that the magnitude of most of the characters in kharif crop were on lower side as compared to the spring season crop. The mean values of days to flowering initiation in kharif season was 12.19% lower in comparison to spring crop. Further, the mean values of number of seeds per plant and seed yield per plant were observed to be 23.40% and 24.73% lower in kharif season crop compared to the spring season crop. The values of number of seeds per fruit and seed yield per fruit were also recorded to be lower in kharif season crop by 19.10% and 19.79%, respectively. The magnitude of days to 100% flowering and fruit diameter was 13.07% and 13.48% lower in kharif crop as compared to the spring one. The differences in the mean values for rest of the traits viz., leaf diameter (8.44%), number of fruits per plant (8.28%), seed diameter (4.31 %) and 100 seed weight (7.14%) were recorded very low in these makhana crops. The possible reason behind these differential Pilrameters could be attributed to the effect of prevalent environmental conditions (day length, temperature, relative humidity and fertility status of field etc.) during the vegetative and reproductive phases of the crops. The findings of present study are novel, because to the best knowledge of author, till date, no other study on this line has been done on makhana crop. From comparative economic analysis of these two crops (Table 2), it is clear that the yield potential (2.23 tlha) of kharif season crop was 26.92% lower
108
Lokendra Kumar et al.
than the spring season crop (3.05 tlha). However, due to low input cost, the Benefit: Cost ratio of kharif season crop (2.06) is appreciably higher than the spring season crop (l.88). In this way, the net economic difference of these two crops confined to 20% only. The results of this study revealed that although the yield potential of kharif crop (2.23 tJha) was not as good as spring crop (3.05 tJha), yet the yield potential of this crop was two-fold higher as compared with makhana crops grown in pond system (1.0-1.2 tJha). The yield data of these two, sequential crops of makhana revealed that in agricultural fields the makhana crop can be grown successfully twice a year. The findings of this study could be of immense help to enhance the production and productivity of makhana in agricultural fields.
Acknowledgement Authors thank the Editor and learned reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions to improve the quality of this paper.
References Das, S., P. Der, U. Raychaudhary, N. Maulik and D. K. Das (2006). The effect of Euryale ferox Salisb. (Makhana) : an herb of aquatic origin on myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 289(12), 55-63. Jha, Y., A. N. Kargupta, R. N. Dutta, U. N. Jha, R. K. Mishra and K. C. Saraswati (1991). Utilization and conservation of Euryale ferox Salisb. In Mithila (north Bihar), India. Aquatic Botany. 39, 295-314. Kumar, Lokendra, V. K. Gupta. B. K. Jha, I. S. Singh, B. P. Bhatt and A. KSingh (20 I I). Status of Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.) cultivation in India. Technical Bulletin No. R-32/PAT 21. ICAR RCER, Patna, p. 31. Kumar, Lokendra, V. K. Gupta, M. A. Khan, S. S. Singh, Janardan Jee and Ashok Kumar (20 II). Field based makhana cultivation for improving cropping intensity of rice fields. Bihar J. Horti., 1(1): 71-72.
