Land requirement
Land should be free of volunteer plants. The previous crop should not be the same variety or other varieties of the same crop. It can be the same variety if it is certified as per the procedures of certification agency
Isolation
For certified / quality seed production leave a distance of 5 m all around the field from the same and other varieties of cowpea
Season
June - July and September - October
|
Land selection |
 |
 |
 |
Vegetative Phase |
Flowering |
Pod Formation |
Pre-sowing seed treatment
Remove the discoloured seeds and use only the highly germinable (>75%) seeds for sowing.
Intercultural operation
- Pinch the tendrils off for promotion of flower production.
- Spray NAA 40 ppm (40 mg in 1 litre) to reduce the flower drop.
- Spray DAP 2% at flower initiation and at peak flowering stage to promote pod setting.
- Pull out and destroy the plants exhibiting severe symptoms of mosaic in the early stages of growth
|
Harvesting
- Seeds attain physiological maturity 27-30 days after anthesis. At this stage the moisture content of seeds will be about 18 per cent.
- Harvest the pods as they turn light straw in colour and the seeds turn brown or mottled in colour.
- Harvest the pods as picking (4 –5 no) at 10 days interval.
- Air dry the pods for 1-2 days and then sundry until they become brittle
Seed extraction
Beat the pods with pliable bamboo stick or pulse thresher by adjusting the cylinder speed to avoid splitting and cracking of seeds |
Harvesting |
Drying
- The broken and immature seeds should not be selected for seed purpose.
- Dry the seeds to 8-10% moisture content
Seed treatment
- Slurry treat with carbendazim @ 2g kg-1 of seed along with carbaryl @ 200 mg kg-1 of seed (or)
- Slurry treat seeds with halogen mixture (CaOCl2 + CaCO3 + arappu (Albizzia amara) leaf powder mixed in the ratio of 5:4:1 ) @ 3g kg-1 as eco – friendly treatment .
|
Storage
- Store the seeds in gunny or cloth bags for short term storage (8-9 months) with seed moisture content of 8 - 9%.
- Store the seeds in polylined gunny bag for medium term storage (12- 15 months) with seed moisture content of 8 – 9 %.
- Store the seeds in 700 gauge polythene bag for long term storage (more than15 months) with seed moisture content of less than 8%.
|
Source
The Professor and Head,
Department of Seed Science & Technology,
TNAU, Coimbatore-641003.
Phone:0422-6611363
Email: seed@tnau.ac.in
|
