Urad Cultivation – Mash Farming Methods and Requirements

Indian farmers practice Urad cultivation or Mash farming in the broader place. It comes from the family of essential pulse crops. Indian people consume it as Dal is a vital breakfast ingredient. MP, UP, Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the primary producers of mash. According to a survey (2012-13), the farmers practice mash farming with 2.2 thousand hectares of land in Punjab. 

Now let’s know about the needs and requirements for mash farming in India. With this information, you can practice mash farming with ease. 

How to Do Mash Farming in India?

To practice Urad cultivation, you have to follow some instructions. And the instructions and farming requirements are given below. So read them carefully and get ready to cultivate Mash. 

Climate Requirements

You should keep the 15 to 30°C temperature in your mind for mash farming. So, you can obtain a high yield from this crop. Apart from this, you have to sow the crop at the temperature of 25 to 35°C to get the proper germination of the seeds. And the ideal rainfall is 50 to 75cm for this crop. On the other hand, you should harvest the crop at 18 to 25°C temperature. 

Soil Requirements

For mash farming, you should not cultivate it in the Saline – alkaline soil, and you should also skip the saturated soils. However, if you need better germination and a higher production rate, you can cultivate it in stiff loamy or heavy soils. Where good water retentive capacity must be available. Apart from this, you need to prepare land with the help of excellent tractors like Swaraj 735 and other farm implements. 

Popular Mash Varieties with Yield 

Several mash varieties are available in the Indian farming sector. But the farmers mainly cultivate some of them, which are Mash 338 – 3.5 QTL/acre, Mash 114 – 3.7 QTL/acre, Mash 218 – 4 QTL/acre, Mash 414 – 4.3 QTL/acre and Mash 1008 – 4.6 QTL/acre.

Other state varieties:

Apart from the varieties as mentioned above, you can also see some other state varieties, which are:

• Type 27
• Type 56
• Pusa 1
• Pant 430
• HPU 6
• T 65
• LBG 22
• LBG 402
• LBG 20

Land Preparation

You should give 2 or 3 ploughing to the field because the field should be in the fine tilth. You should also keep the area free from weeds. So, you can give planking after each ploughing to keep the field free from the weeds.  You can complete these operations with the help of good quality tractors like Swaraj 717 and others. Along with this, you should choose a high performing farm implement for these operations. 

Sowing Operation 

The perfect time to sow mash crops is from the last week of June to the first week of July. On the other hand, the sowing time must be in March to April for summer cultivation. And you should sow it from 15 to 25 July in the sub-mountainous regions. And you should give the 10 cm space plant to plant and 30 cm space row to row. On the other hand, for Ravi cultivation, the row space should be 22.5 cm, and plant to plant space must be 4 to 5 cm. So you can take a sowing depth of 4 to 6 cm for better production. Moreover, the cultivation methods are Kera, Pora methods or sow seeds by seed drill.

Irrigation

Mash is a Kharif crop, so rinse the field if needed, according to the climate conditions. You should give the water when the crop needs to be rinsed. 

Diseases and Pest 

Different types of pests and diseases can be harmful to crops. So, to solve this, we have to treat the crop with some chemicals. So, let’s know about them.

Pest and their control:

• Sucking pest – Spray of Mal[email protected] or Oxydemeton [email protected] or [email protected]/acre
• Tobacco caterpillar – Spray of Chlorpyriphos 20EC@ 1.5Ltr/acre or Acephate [email protected]/acre
• Hairy Caterpillar – Spray of [email protected] or [email protected]/acre
• Pod Borer – Spray of Acephate [email protected] or Indoxacarb [email protected] or Spinosad [email protected]/acre
• Mite – Spray of Dimethoate [email protected]/acre
• Blister beetle – Spray of Acephate [email protected] or Indoxacarb [email protected]/acre

Diseases and their control:

• Yellow mosaic virus –  Spray of Triazophos@ 600ml, [email protected]/acre
• Cercospora leaf spot – Spray of Zineb [email protected]/acre

Harvesting

When leaves get shed, and pods get greyish black, it is the right time to harvest the mash crop. First, cut the crop with the help of a sickle or reapers and spread the harvested mash crop on the ground to dry in the sunshine. Lastly, you should do threshing to separate the crop seeds from the pods. 

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