In my area people broadcast masur into standing paddy before harvest. Want to know if this utera method is reliable.
When should I sow lentil after rice harvest using utera or relay cropping in Bihar?
RRamashankar Prasad8mo ago · 277 views
5 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓8mo ago
Utera or relay cropping, where lentil seed is broadcast into the standing rice crop shortly before harvest, lets you use residual soil moisture and is widely practised in rice-fallow areas of Bihar, but yields are usually lower and more variable than properly sown lentil. For better results, broadcast at the right time when the field has good moisture but is not waterlogged, use a higher seed rate to offset poor establishment, treat seed with Rhizobium and fungicide, and choose a short-duration variety. If you have any irrigation, line sowing after harvest gives more reliable yields. Confirm timing and variety with your KVK.
BBirendra Sah8mo ago
Utera masur works for me in a normal year on residual moisture, but in a dry year the stand is patchy. I keep the seed rate on the higher side.
JJitendra Prasad Yadav8mo ago
In my part of Patna district the utera stand is always more reliable if the paddy was not harvested too late, because a very late rice harvest leaves the masur with too little moisture to establish. Where I can, I pick the shorter-duration rice on the plots I plan to relay-sow lentil into.
SShambhu Prasad Yadav8mo ago
Timing the broadcast is the whole game. I scatter the seed a week or so before cutting the paddy, when the field has good moisture but you can still walk in it without sinking. Too early and the seed rots, too late and there is not enough moisture left for germination.
MManoj Kumar Singh7mo ago
Rhizobium seed treatment is cheap and made a real difference to my utera masur vigour, since the rice-fallow soil had little of it. Just remember to do the fungicide first and the Rhizobium coating last, and sow the same day so the culture stays alive.