The university advised farmers not to sow long and medium duration rice varieties but adopt only short-duration (120-125 days) rice varieties during this season.

Hyderabad: With the onset of Kharif season, the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) on Wednesday issued suggestions on six crops including cultivation, methods, selection of seeds to the farmers in the State.

The university advised farmers not to sow long and medium duration rice varieties but adopt only short-duration (120-125 days) rice varieties during this season. It advocated for wet direct seeding practices so as to ensure timely sowings and higher returns.

As for the cotton crop, the university set July 20 as the cutoff date for sowing this crop to achieve good yields. Under rain fed and light soil, cotton should be sown with closer spacing 90 x 15 or 20 cm, it said, adding that mixing up of cotton with red gram in 6:1 ratio should be taken up.

Advising the farmers to sow soybean in the first week of July, the university asked farmers to use broad bed and furrowing planting for sowing, which reduces seed rate, cost of sowing besides ensuring uniform germination and higher yield. Instead of a sole soybean crop, the farmers were suggested intercropping it with red gram in a 7:1 ratio under the rain fed situation. It also suggested necessary interventions for maize, red and green gram crops.