Beetroot

Varieties – Ruby Green

Hybrids – Castelo, Crystal, Kestrel, Fortune

Soil – It comes up well in all types of friable soils. The suitable soil pH is 6.0-7.0. 

Season and Sowing – July – August.

Seed rate – 6 kg of seeds are required for an area of one hectare when directly sown in ridges at a spacing of 10 cm 

Preparation of field – Plough to a fine tilth and form ridges and furrows 30 cm apart.

Spacing – 30 x30 x10 cm as four rows in each paired row / raised bed system.

Irrigation

Irrigate the field copiously immediately after sowing and afterwards, as and when necessary.

Drip Irrigation 

Install the drip system with main and sub main pipes and place the inline lateral tubes at an interval of 1.5 m. Place the drippers in lateral tubes at an interval of 60 cm and 50cm spacing with 4 LPH and 3.5 LPH capacities respectively.Form the raised beds at 120 cm width at an interval of 30cm and place the laterals at the centre of each bed.

Application of Manures

15 t of FYM and 2 kg each of Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria and top dressing of vermicompost @ 6 t/ha in 2 equal splits at 15 days interval (3 t at 30 days after planting and 3 t at 45 days after planting)

Foliar Nutrition – Spray 3% Panchagavya twice at 30 and 45 days after planting

After Cultivation – 20 days after sowing thin the plants to single seedling per hill.

Plant Protection: Beet root is not much affected by pests

Diseases

Leaf spot

• Provide adequate drainage facilities 
• In the field, drench the beds with 1% Bordeaux mixture.
• Soil application @ 2.5 kg P. fluorescens/ha at the time of planting and 45 days after planting 

Yield:  20 – 25 t/ha in 120 days.