African Tall

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Season : Throughout the year for fodder in all districts under irrigated condition.

Varieties : Composite/hybrids: African Tall, Ganga 5

Yield Potential and Quality Characters

Characters
Green fodder yield (t/ha)
Crude protein (%)
Dry matter (%)
Plant height (cm)
Number of leaves
Leaf length (cm)
Leaf breadth (cm)
Stem thickness (cm)

African Tall
42.00
9.80
17.65
302.00
13.30
81.30
8.15
1.77

Leaf-stem ratio

0.21

PREPARATORY CULTIVATION
1. PLOUGHING
Plough the field twice with an iron plough and three or four times with country plough.

2. APPLICATION OF FYM
Apply and spread FYM or compost at 25 t/ha on unploughed field along with 10 packets of
Azospirillum (2000 g) and 10 packets of Phosphobacteria (2000g) inoculum or 20packets of Azophos
(4000g)and incorporate the manure into the soil during ploughing.

3. FORMING RIDGES AND FURROWS

Form ridges and furrows using a ridger, 30 cm apart are form beds of size 10 m2 or 20 m2 depending
on the availability of water and slope of the land.

4. APPLICATION OF FERTILIZERS
Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendation as for as possible. If soil testing is not done,
follow blanket recommendation of 30 : 40 : 20 kg N, P2O5 and K2 O / ha. Apply 30 kg N/ha at 30
days after sowing as top dressing.

5. SOWING

Spacing : 30 x 15 cm, Seed rate : 40 kg/ha

Treat the seeds with 3 packets (600 g) Azospirillum inoculant and 3 packets (600 g) of
phosphobacteria or 6 packets of Azophos (1200g)before sowing

6. WATER MANAGEMENT
Irrigate immediately after sowing and give life irrigation on the third day and thereafter once in 10
days.

7. WEED MANAGEMENT
Hoeing and weeding are done as and when necessary.

8. HARVESTING
Harvest the crop when the cob is in the milky stage.

Note:
* Fodder Maize can be intercropped with CO 5 or COFC 8 Cowpea at 3:1 ratio and harvested together
to provide nutritious fodder.

TNAU vermicompost at 5 t/ha + 75% recommended dose of fertilizer for intercropping of

maize and cowpea produces green fodder yield of 105 t/ha/yr ( 3 crops/ year) which is
sufficient to maintain 7 adults and 3 young cattles. The dung obtained from these animals can
be used for on farm production of 19.4 tonnes of vermicompost per year.

SEED PRODUCTION
LAND REQUIREMENT

Land should be free from volunteer plant

ISOLATION

Adopt 200 m for certified seed production

SPACING

Adopt 60 x 20 cm

FERTILIZER

Apply NPK @ 175 : 90 : 90 kg ha-1 + 25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 as basal application

HARVEST

Seeds attained physiological maturity on 40th day after anthesis. (Anthesis is the period
during which a flower is fully open and functional)

SEED TREATMENT

Treat the seeds with Captan @ 2g/kg + Carbaryl @ 200mg/kg-1 of seeds

STORAGE

Treated seeds can be stored upto 1 year under insect free condition
Use gunny or cloth bags for short term storage with seed moisture content of 10 - 12%
Use polylined gunny bag for medium term storage with seed moisture content of 8 - 10%
Use 700 gauge polythene bag for long term storage with seed moisture content of Less than
8%.

OTHER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

As in crop management technique

Availability / Cost
Venkatadasa Imports andj Exports Pvt Ltd
H/o - Chilakalurpet, Guntur, AP
Crop

Maize

Variety

African tall

Moisture
MRP
Net Wt

12%

385/7 Kg

As on 01/07/2012