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Vegetables

Vegetables

Introduction
Nutritional Profile
Area and Productivity
Climatic Requirements
Suitable Soil Type
Recommended Varieties
Agronomic Practices
Plant Protection
Harvest And Post Management

Introduction

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea Var. Botrytis)

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) is an important winter vegetable grown in India, It is an annual plant which reproduces by seeds. Cauliflower head is composed of a white inflorescence meristem – the edible white flesh is sometimes called "curd".

Cauliflower

Nutritional Profile

Cauliflower might provide plenty of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and other active phytochemicals. The nutritional value of cauliflower per 100 grams of serving is given below.

Nutritional component Value
Carbohydrate 4.97 g
Protein 1.92 mg
Fibre 2 g
Fat 0.28 g
Fructose 0.97 g
Glucose 0.94 g
Iron 0.42 mg
Sodium 30 mg
Potassium 299 mg
Phosphorous 44 mg

Area and Productivity

In India, the area under cauliflower was 459 thousand hectares with a production of 8800 thousand tonnes and productivity of 19.17 tonnes/ha.

Climatic Requirements

Cauliflower has a wide range in adaptation to diverse climatic conditions, prevailing in temperate subtropics and tropical parts. The optimum temperature for growth of young plants is around 23oC, but in later stages 17-20oC are most favourable. The tropical cultivars show growth even at 35oC. Lower temperatures ranging from 5oC to 28-30oC are needed for transition from vegetative to curding phase. The temperature higher or lower than the optimum required for curd formation of the cultivars may cause physiological disorder viz. riceyness, leafy curd and blindness.

Suitable Soil Type

Well drained sandy loam for early and well drained loam to clay loam for mid and late varieties. Optimum pH- 6.0-7.0

Recommended Varieties

Early:

Early Kunwari, Pusa Katki, and Pusa Deepali.

Mid:

Improved Japanese, Pusa Synthetic, Pusa Snowball, and Main Crop Patna.

Late:

Snowball-16, Pusa Snowball K-1, and Hissar-1.

Description:
Early Kunwari:

Plant short, bluish-green leaf with waxy bloom, small to medium curd, tends to grow loose faster, hemispherical with an even surface.

Pusa Katki:

Plant medium; bluish-green leaf with waxy bloom; curd small to medium.

Pusa Deepali:

Plant medium-tall, leaf short erect, waxy, green, curd medium compact, white, self-blanched uniform, well-protected by leaves, riceyness is almost absent, maturity 100-120 days.

Improved Japanese:

Plant tall, erect, leaf bluish-green, not incurved, curd large, compact, white, maturity 90-95 days.

Pusa Synthetic:

Plant erect, leaf nos 24-28, varying in color, curd medium, somewhat creamy white to white compact, maturity 130 days, yields 225 q/ha.

Pusa Snowball:

Curd medium-sized, solid and of attractive snow white color.

Snowball-16:

Plant short, 24 to 28 outer leaves, upright grayish-green, incurved, curd medium, compact, snow white and self-blanched, maturity 90 days.

Pusa Snowball K-1:

Plant spreading, outer leaf 24-28 nos., self-blanched, snow white, maturity 90-95 days, resistant to black rot.

Agronomic Practices

Nursery Raising:
  1. Select a sunny area with well-drained friable light soil rich in organic matter.
  2. Bring the soil into fine tilth and prepare the bed of 1 m width and of convenient length. Raise it to 10-15 cm above ground level.
  3. For an area of 10 m2 in the bed, mix 20 kg sand or silt and 20 kg compost (well decomposed, dried, and sieved) thoroughly.
  4. To make the soil free from soil-borne disease-causing pathogens (most common disease in the nursery is the ‘Damping-off’), drench the bed with 0.2% solution of Chlorothalonil or Carboxin so as to saturate the soil up to a depth of 10-15 cm.
  5. Keep it covered, immediately after treating, with a polythene sheet or gunny bag or thick paper for 2 days.
  6. Uncover the soil and get it loosened and leave it as such for 3 to 4 days.
  7. Treat the dry seeds with Carboxin @ 2 g/kg seeds against seed-borne pathogens.
  8. Apply Clothianidin 50 WDG @ 80 g ai/ha as soil drench in order to protect the seedlings from soil insects.
  9. Sow the seeds thinly in U-shaped furrows spaced at 2.5 cm and at a depth of 1-2 cm (4 times the diameter of the seed). Cover the seeds immediately with a thin layer of sand mixed with well-dried and sieved cow dung. The surface should be leveled and formed by a wooden leveler.
  10. Water the sown beds using a water can fitted with a fine rose.
  11. Cover the beds with a thin layer of straw, banana leaf, or dried grass to prevent displacement of seeds. The cover should be removed at the first appearance of sprouts.
  12. The seedlings get ready for transplanting when they attain 10-15 cm height or become 30-35 days old. Avoid shading or protection of seedlings; allow maximum sunlight except in case of expected injury due to heavy rain or frost.
  13. Harden the seedlings before lifting by gradual reduction of water for about 7 days.
  14. Soak the beds 6 hours before lifting to facilitate the maximum retention or roots and plant turgidity.
  15. Dip the seedlings in plant protection formulations just before transplanting to avoid attack in the initial stage of establishment.
Field Preparation:

Land should be prepared to a fine tilth and FYM or compost to be applied. It is advisable to apply slaked lime every 3 years according to the soil test result. Lime should be applied at least 30 days before planting.

Seed Rate:
  • 400 g/ha for early season crop (53.3 g/bigha)
  • 300 g/ha for mid-season crop (40 g/bigha)
  • 400 g/ha for late-season crop (53.3 g/bigha)
  • 8-10 g of seeds should be sown per sq.m.
Time of Sowing:
  • Early: From mid-July to the first week of August (Matures by October).
  • Mid: From the first week of September to the last week of October (Matures by Dec - January).
  • Late: Up to the first week of November (Matures by Feb - March).
For North Bank Plain Zone:
  • Early – Last week of August
  • Late Mid – First week of November
  • Late – Last week of November
Spacing (Row to Row x Plant to Plant):
  • Early: 45 cm x 45 cm
  • Mid: 60 cm x 60 cm
  • Late: 45 cm x 45 cm
Manures and Fertilizers:

FYM @ 10 t, N 80 kg, P2O5 60 kg, and K2O 60 kg/ha (1.3 t FYM, 23.5 kg Urea, 50.4 kg SSP, 13.6 kg MOP/bigha). Half of N and full doses of FYM, P2O5, and K2O should be applied as basal and the remaining half of N to be top-dressed at 30 days after planting (during earthing up). For the kitchen garden, half of N and the whole of P2O5 and K2O may be applied by the ring method around the plant at 15 days after planting and the other half of N at 30 days after planting.

Apply either 8 kg of Borax (1.1 kg/bigha) or 6 kg of Boric acid (0.8 kg/bigha) powder per ha along with basal fertilizers or spray 0.2-0.3% Borax (@ 1.6-2.4 kg/800 ltr/ha) against browning in boron-deficient soils. To prevent the deficiency of molybdenum, apply Na or NH4-molybdate @ 1-2 kg/ha along with basal fertilizers or irrigation water. Foliar spray of NH4-molybdate 0.01-0.1% @ 200-300 g/ha is also recommended. Foliar spray with commercial micronutrients formulation may be done.

For Hill Zone:
  1. (i) Apply boron 3000 ppm (3g/lit) as foliar spray 30 days after transplanting @ 650 lit spray solution/ha. Boron content in Borax is 11.3% and the Boric acid 17.5%.
  2. (ii) Apply commercial micronutrient formulation in two splits at 30-45 days after transplanting as per recommendation.
Interculture:
  1. Irrigation: A light irrigation immediately after transplanting to be given and subsequent irrigations whenever required. In total, five irrigations are sufficient.
  2. Weeding: First weeding at 20 days and the second at 40 days after transplanting.

Plant Protection

Major Pests of Cauliflower:

DBM, Leaf Eating Caterpillars

Scientific Name: Plutella xylostella
How to Identify:
  • Young caterpillars cause small yellow mines on leaves.
  • Scrapping of epidermal leaf tissues producing typical whitish patches on leaves.
  • Full-grown larvae bite holes in the leaves and feed on curd.
Cauliflower
Management:
  • Cultural Control: Crop rotation with cucurbits, beans, peas, tomato.
  • Mechanical Control: Pheromone traps @12/ha.
  • Chemical Control:
    • Spray chlorantranilliprole 18.5 SC @ 1ml/3ltr of water.
    • Apply Emmamectin benzoate 5 SG @220 g/ha.
    • Spray Flubendiamide 39.35 EC @0.1%.

Cutworm

Scientific Name: Agrotis ipsilon
How to Identify:

Cut-worms snip the tender stems of newly transplanted seedlings.

Cauliflower
Management:
  • Apply Clothianidin 50 WDG @ 80 g a.i./ha.
  • Flubendiamide 48 SC formulation @ 35 mL per 0.15 ha @ 75 liters spray volume (i.e. 0.5 mL per liter of water).

Major Diseases of Cauliflower

Black Rot

Causal Organism: Xanthomonas campestris
How to Identify:
  • The first symptoms are usually yellow V-shaped lesions at the leaf margins. As the diseased area of the leaf expands and turns brown, the leaf veins in the affected area may appear in black.
Cauliflower
Management:
  • Drench base of plants with a mixture of asafoetida @ 75 + turmeric @ 375 g in 750 liters of water for 0.15 ha (i.e. 0.1 g asafoetida and 0.5 g turmeric per litre of water).
  • Drench the soil with 100-200 ppm solution (0.1-0.2g/ltr) of Agrimycin or Streptomycin after transplanting.

Harvest And Post Management

Blanching:

When the curd (the white head) is about 2 to 3 inches in diameter, tie the outer leaves together over the head with a rubber band, tape or twine. this is called blanching and it protects the head from the sun and helps to get that pretty white colour.


Harvesting: Cauliflower is harvested when the curds obtain proper size.

Yield: 150-175 q/ha for early and mid and 175-200 q/ha for late crop Seed yield: 25-40 q/ha.

Helpline and Support

0376 -2340001

Assam Agricultural University

Jorhat, PIN - 785013 Assam

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