Thursday, January 29, 2009

Seed Production in Amaranthus

Following are the methods adopted for seed production of Amaranthus also called harive soppu and bhaji.

Selection
  • healthy plants with good inflorescence must be selected.
  • diseased, infested by insects , weak plants are not selected as the seeds obtained from them will be of poor quality
  • care should be taken to see that weed plants are not harvested along with main plants
Drying
  • all the unwanted leaves, branches, stem etc are trimmed & only the inflorescence is sun dried for a period of 7 to 15 days
  • white or transparent plastic sheet must be used and the inflorescence must be spread out evenly on the surface
  • drying process is complete when there is total discoloration of the plant. it changes from green to burnt yellow/brown color.

Packing and storage
  • once the plant is completely dried, the seeds can be separated by threshing or beating the plant on a wooden plank or rough surface. even rubbing the inflorescence against each other dislodges the seeds
  • the seeds are very small in size & black in color & round in shape.
  • the seeds thus obtained must be kept in air tight containers & stored in a dry place.

Precautions and tips
  • since there are 2 distinct color types, one green the other maroon, seeds of the required color plants can be obtained by not mixing the 2 while threshing, separate the green plants from the maroon plants
  • do not keep in containers that are defective or have cracks as even a little moisture in these containers will encourage the growth of fungus & will damage the seeds
  • ants & other insects can also be a problem if the storage containers are not proper. to control ants, 3 or 6 pieces of cloves can be added in the containers.
  • certain chemicals like Thiram can be used for longer storage to prevent attack from insects
  • the area of storage must be in a dry place, well aerated to prevent any kind of fungal attack.
  • after using the seeds, the container must be closed properly,
  • always use clean hands while handling seeds. after using any chemicals, wash hands with clean water thoroughly before handling seeds

    Photos and content by Pritham 'Heavy metal farmer' denzil dsouza

4 comments:

  1. Hi there,

    I have a question about sticky traps for white flies. My plants are spread all over the garden - placing traps everywhere will be difficult. Will garlic sprays help?

    Many thanks
    AG

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi
    u dont have to keep a lot of sticky traps.... keep one or 2... the yellow color of the plastic trap will attract the insects... u dnt have to run behind them....:)
    use garlic sprays and the sticky traps...together

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,

    I have been using garlic sprays for couple of days and the results have been disappointing - not sure why that is the case. The white flies appear to have increased in numbers :( I have put traps today - hopefully they should work.

    Take care
    AG

    ReplyDelete
  4. if garlic sprays dont work, maybe the concentration is not enough.. use 2 garlics instead of one... or just switch over to good ol neem

    ReplyDelete