Safflower.pptx Details cultivation practices of safflower

Details cultivation practices of safflower

1. Safflower Botanical Name:- Carthamus tinctorius Linn . Family :- Compositae / Asteraceae Local name : Kardai Kusumbha . Origin:- Afghanistan Safflower is cultivated both in tropical and temperate region. It is minor oilseed crop in India restricted its cultivation in some states. It is mainly grown in rabi season as rainfed crop . it has deep and efficient root system therefore utilized soil moisture effectively.

2. Economic Importance :- Safflower is mainly grown for the edible oil (28-32%). plant used for leafy vegetable. Flowers used for making type of herbal tea. The ray and disc florets can be used as the substitute for saffron. Safflower oil is rich in essential fatty acids like linoleic and oleic acid, hence useful to maintain low level of blood cholesterol. The oil is used in various industries viz., as dying oil, paints, varnishes, soap making, contains 40-50% protein . Being spiny it acts as guard crop as it protects main crop against stray cattle.

3. Ecology: Soil:- :- It is grown both as a rainfed and an irrigated condition . Depth of soil should be more than 45cm for favorable growth of this crop. Soil should be well drained. It can be grown in moderately saline soils . Climatic :- Safflower is a drought resistant crop and can be grown in regions receiving rainfall of about 100 mm .

4. Preparatory Tillage:- In assured rainfall areas it is grown after the harvest of short duration legume crop like green gram, blackgram or early groundnut. In such areas land is prepared by giving 2-3 harrowing after harvest of Kharif crops. In drought prone areas, land is kept fallow in Kharif and safflower is grown in Rabi . In such regions, one deep ploughing once in three years in summer followed by 2-3 criss -cross harrowing is sufficient. In these fields soil conservation practices are followed in Kharif seasons.

5. Seeds and Sowing :- Time of sowing :- Rainfed :- first fortnight of September to first week of October. Irrigated :- up to the end of October. Seeds rate : For the pure/sole crop – 10-12 kg/ha. For mixed or intercrop – 5 to 6 kg/ha Method of sowing:- Sowing is done by drilling with the two-bowl fertilizer-cum seed drill, Spacing :- In heavy soils – 60 cm x 30cm For medium to light soils- 45cm x 20cm Depth of sowing : up to 5 cm depth in the soil. Seed Treatments :- The seed should be treated with thiram @ 3g per kg of seed before sowing to control fungal seed borne diseases.or Trichoderma @10g/10kg of seeds.

6. Varieties:- a) Spiny Varieties :- Bhima (S-4), Girna , Sharada , Tara, Phule Kusuma (JLSF-414), Nagpur–7, NARI-15, NARI-38, AKS-207, Parbhani kusum ( Registant to aphids), N-62-8, DSH-129, PBNS-12. b) Non spiny varieties :-PBNS-40, NARI-6, NARI: NH-1, SSE-658.   Manures and Fertilizers: FYM or Compost is incorporated at the time of last harrowing @ 5-6 t/ha. Safflower responds well to fertilizer application Rainfed condition: -RDF is 50:25:00 kg NPK/ha. Entire dose should be applied as the basal dose in rainfed farming. These fertilizers applied with seed drill at the time of sowing. Irrigated condition:- RDF is 60:35:00 kg NPK/ha. The irrigated crop should receive the dose of 30kgN+30 kg p 2 5 /ha as basal dose and another 30 kg N/ha should be top-dressed after 30 days of sowing.  

7. Thinning :- It is the important practice particularly in the safflower crop for avoiding unnecessary competition. Thinning is done at 10-12 days after the sowing by keeping only one healthy plant per hill. A distance of 20 cm in medium to light textured soils and 30cm in the heavy soils is maintained within the plant . Weed management :- Two to three hoeing followed by one weeding may be given according to weed intensity. First hoeing is carried out at 3 rd week of crop age with slit blade hoe. Second hoeing is carried out at 5 th week of crop age with entire blade hoe

8. Topping:- At the age of 30 to 35 DAS the leafy top of the plants are removed in order to encourage the profuse branching and greater production of flower and seed. Irrigation management :- Generally it is raised as the rainfed crop on residual/stored soil moisture in medium to heavy soils. if the moisture is insufficient at the time of sowing, crop should be sown by giving presoaking irrigation . Not more than two irrigations are needed by the crop, and these two irrigation should be scheduled one 30-35 DAS (i.e. rosette termination stage) and the other at the 50-60 DAS (50% flowering stage ).

9. Intercropping :- 1 ) Gram + safflower (6:3 row proportion) Linseed + safflower 4:2 row proportion) are found beneficial . Harvesting : The crop matures in 130-135 days. Yellowing of the leaves and capsules is the important sign of maturity. Harvesting is carried out early in the morning , when there is dew on the plants and spines are not sharp Harvesting method is either pulling the plants or cutting close to the ground level with the help of sharp sickles. After harvesting plants are staked in small heaps . The plants are allowed to dry in the field itself for about 2 to 3 days.  

10. Threshing :- Then the plants are threshed in the field by beating with the help of long wooden sticks. Winnowing is done to clean the threshed material. Combine wheat harvest machine is also used for harvesting. Yield:- Rainfed crop- ( medium soils) 12-14 q/ha. Heavy soils)-14-16q/ha Irrigated crop- 20-25 Q/ha.