Vol. 7, Issue 2 (2019)
Towards oilseeds sufficiency in north eastern hill region of India: Augmenting oilseed production in acid soils
Author(s): Sanjay-Swami, Alok Maurya and Oguboyana Srikanth Yadav
Abstract: Rapeseed and mustard contributes 32 per cent of the total oilseed production in India. It is the second largest oilseed group crop after groundnut. The North Eastern Hill (NEH) region of India is primarily under the acidic soil zone with high rainfall area. Oilseed crops are important for NEH region as oil is utilized thought the region for cooking and frying purposes. The oilseeds are extensively used as condiments in preparation of pickles, curries and vegetables. The leaves of young plants are also used as green vegetables as it supply enough sulphur and minerals in the diet. However, oilseed cultivation in the NEH region faces several constrains, such as soil acidity problem, water scarcity during post-monsoon season, lack of irrigation facilities, short time lag after rice harvest for seed sowing and lack of soil test based fertilizer recommendations. As a result, only mono-cropping of rice is practiced and the farmers leave their land fallow during rabi season. Considering oilseed Brassica as important oilseed crops for NEH region due to its lower water requirement and tolerance nature to acidity, rapeseed (Brassica campestris var. toria) after harvest of rice was introduced at farmers’ field under zero tillage conditions. Among tested rapeseed varieties, TS-38 gave maximum average yield of 790 kg ha-1 under moisture stress conditions in acid soils. For getting optimum production of oil seed crops in acidic soils, the critical limits of available phosphorus for rapeseed (Brassica campestris var. toria) were also quantified and communicated to the farmers. Apart from this, several other investigations were carried out on different oilseed crops to augment oilseed production in acid soils of the region. The concentrated efforts indicated that rapeseed is a climate resilient crop which can be grown in the residual soil moisture and the farmers of NEH region can meet out their nutritional need and secure livelihood through increased oilseed productivity and reduced cost of cultivation.
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How to cite this article:
Sanjay-Swami, Alok Maurya, Oguboyana Srikanth Yadav. Towards oilseeds sufficiency in north eastern hill region of India: Augmenting oilseed production in acid soils. Int J Chem Stud 2019;7(2):768-772.
