Kern 515 F1 Grain Bajra

Kern 515 is an F1 hybrid grain bajra (pearl millet) for the Kharif season. It is a short-duration crop, ready to harvest in 80–82 days.

Sowing window

• Season: Kharif
• Ideal dates: with the onset of the monsoon — the first fortnight of July in Haryana, Rajasthan and West UP (ICAR-AICRP Pearl Millet); CCS HAU Hisar advises sowing as soon as 20–30 mm of rain has fallen. In Punjab, PAU recommends early July in low-rainfall areas and the last week of July elsewhere, so that the crop flowers after the heavy rains. If the monsoon is late, sowing can go on to the first week of August
• Soil: well-drained sandy loam to loam; bajra will not stand waterlogging

How to sow

• Seed rate: 1.5 kg per acre
• Spacing: 45 cm between rows × 10–15 cm between plants; in the dry western belt of Rajasthan and Haryana widen the rows to 60 cm and keep a thinner stand (AICRP)
• Depth: 2.5–3 cm — bajra seed is small, so do not bury it deep; sow into moist soil
• Thinning and gap filling: 2–3 weeks after sowing, thin to one plant every 10–15 cm and transplant the uprooted seedlings into gaps on a rainy day
• Seed treatment: where green ear (downy mildew) or ergot has been a problem in your area, treat seed as per your state advisory; soaking seed in 10% salt water and skimming off the floating ergot bodies before sowing is the PAU practice
• Pack size: 1.5 kg — one pack sows one acre

Manure and fertiliser (per acre)

• Assured rainfall or irrigated fields: about 24–40 kg N and 12–24 kg P₂O₅ per acre (AICRP: 60 kg N + 30 kg P₂O₅ per hectare; PAU irrigated: 90 kg urea + 55 kg DAP per acre)
• Dry, rainfed belt: 16 kg N and 8 kg P₂O₅ per acre (CCS HAU Hisar / AICRP arid zone)
• Timing: half the N and all the P at the last ploughing; the rest of the N top-dressed at thinning, 3–4 weeks after sowing, when there is moisture in the soil (under irrigation PAU splits it again before ear emergence). In a long dry spell skip the top-dressing and spray 2% urea instead
• Zinc: 4–10 kg zinc sulphate (21%) per acre at sowing in zinc-deficient soils; potash only where the soil test is low

Water, weeds and pests

• Irrigation: give water according to your soil type and the moisture in the field. Two irrigations are usually enough if the rains fail — at tillering / ear emergence and at grain filling. Never let rainwater stand in the field for more than a few hours; drain it out
• Weeds: two hoeings, at about 15 and 30 days after sowing, with a wheel hoe or triphali (AICRP / PAU); or atrazine 50 WP at about 400 g per acre (0.5 kg a.i. per hectare, AICRP) as a pre-emergence spray, plus one hand weeding
• Pests: scout the crop regularly and spray only as per label and your state advisory. Watch for white grub and cutworm in sandy soils, and for grey weevil and root bug
• Green ear (downy mildew): pull out and destroy infected plants early; collect diseased ears before harvest and burn them; rotate the field out of bajra for a few years if it has been bad
• Ergot and smut: burn ears showing honey-dew; never feed ergot-infected ears or stalks to cattle

Harvest

• Duration: 80–82 days from sowing
• Stage: cut the ear heads when the grain has hardened and the heads have turned straw-coloured; dry in the sun for a few days before threshing. The stalks make good dry fodder (karbi)

Please quote product code KERN-515 when ordering.

Crop practices follow state agricultural university recommendations for North India; confirm doses for your district with your Kern dealer or KVK.

Agronomy helpline: 9107062062

किसानों की ज़ुबानी

कण 515 हाइब्रिड बाजरा — किसान जीतेन्द्र सिंह, रेवाड़ी