Cigarette natu tobacco and bidi tobacco are grown on
stored soil moisture of vertisols of Kurnool district.
Varieties
Natu tobacco Natu special, sun cured natu (WAF) and
Bhairavi (NG 73) with cured leaf yield of 1600 and 1700kg ha-1
respectively.
Bidi tobacco A 119, GT 4 and GT 7 with leaf yield
of 1800 to 2000 kg ha-1.
Nursery
Light soils are ideal. In case of vertisols, sand @ 500
t ha-1 has to be mixed with top soil layers.
Optimum time for raising nursery is from second fortnight
of July to first fortnight of August, Raised seedbeds of about 15cm
height, 1.0m width (after tapping) and 10m length with 50cm between
beds are ideal for nursery.
Apply ammonium sulphate @ 100g, super phosphate @ 300g
and sulphate of potash @ 100g for 10m2 nursery area as basal
dose besides 25kg FYM.
Treat the bed with 40g of endosulfan 4% dust or drench
with chlorpyriphos 20% EC @ 2ml l-1 water one day before
sowing.
About 3 kg seed ha-1 is optimum. Mix 3g seed
with 20g sand and uniformly distribute over 10m2 bed area.
Cover the seed and slightly compact by rolling 9" diameter
cement pipe. Cover the bed with available organic material like paddy
straw, which should be removed 3-4 days after germination.
Water the bed frequently (4-5 times a day) to keep it
moist.
After germination, apply ammonium sulphate at 25g per
10m2 bed at four days interval twice followed by 50g per
10m2 bed thrice at 4 days interval.
Transplanting
Six weeks old seedlings should be planted during August
for bidi tobacco at a spacing of 75x75cm and for natu tobacco from first
fortnight of September to first fortnight of October with a spacing
of 70x70cm. Gap filling should be completed within 10days of planting.
Fertilizers
Natu tobacco requires 40N, 50 P2O5
and 50K2O kg ha-1 whereas bidi tobacco needs 110
N, 70 P2O5 and 50 K2O kg ha-1 all as
basal application by placement a week before planting.
Intercultivation
After the seedling establishment, three tyned cultivator
is worked at weekly interval until the leaves cover the row spacing.
This operation not only checks the weed growth, but
also leads to the formation of soil mulch for soil moisture conservation,
Bullock drawn implements are used for earthing up.
Topping and desuckering
Topping is done at flower bud initiation leaving 16-20
leaves. Suckers should be removed at 5-6 days interval.
Pendimethalin (1.5%), decanol (7%) and neem oil
emulsion (35%) etc.. can also be used for desuckering instead of manual
desuckering.
Harvesting and Curing
Bidi tobacco : Manure leaves showing full spangle development
are harvested priming wise and placed with their upper surface facing
the ground for drying.
After drying lamina (bhuka) is stripped off from the
mid ribs.
After 4-5 days the remaining pieces of lamina and veins
adhering to the mid ribs are separate and heaped.
This is called geron.
The midribs are dried for another fortnight.
The bark of the stalks is scraped with sickle cured and
mixed with the mid ribs called lakada.
Grades :
Bhuka : Pure lamina
Geran : Lamina pieces and veins
Galia : Sand leaves
Lakada : Mid ribs
Natu tobacco : Natu tobacco is harvested by cutting each
leaf with a piece of stalk attatched to it.
Harvested leaves are strung on to a jute twine with the
help of long iron needles with 100 to 150 leaves per string of 1.2m
to 1.5m length
. These strings are fixed on to bamboo poles in the open
and sun cured for 4 to 6 weeks.
Cured leaf is bulked, bulks broken and remade 5 to 6
times, depending on the heat developed in the bulk.
Grading
CBT, CBR, CDK, CG and CP grades representing bright,
brown, dark brown, green and perished leaf respectively.
Theses grades may be subdivide on the basis of body as
light medium and heavy bodied leaf, depending on the market requirements.
Pest Management
Tobacco Caterpillar
Spray neem based kernel suspension (NSKS) 2% or NPV 250
LE ha-1 at 4 weeks age.
When the pest reaches economic threshold level (6 damaged
seedlings or one third instar larvae m2), spray monocrotophos @ 1.5ml
l-1 or endosulfan @ 1.5ml l-1 or chlorpyriphos
@ 2.5ml l-1 or acephate @ 1.0g l-1 or quinalphos
@ 2.5ml l-1 of water.
Whitefly
Destroy alternate weed hosts around tobacco nursery and
field.
Set up yellow sticky traps @ 12 traps ha-1
for monitoring the pest.
When the population reaches 100 per trap, spray chlorpyriphos
@ 2.5ml l-1 or monocrotophos @ 1.5ml l-1 or acephate
@ 1.0 g l-1 or oxy-demeton methyl @ 1.5ml l-1
at weekly intervals.
Ground beetle
Apply Pongamia cake powder at 5g mixed with handful
of the fine sand at the base of the seedling immediately after planting
or apply solution of endosulfan @ 1.4ml of chlorpyriphos @ 1.5ml l-1
at 75ml plant-1 in the planting hole.
Green Peach aphid
Spray methyl-s-demeton or dimethoate @ 1.5ml l-1
or acephate @ 1.0g l-1. Repeat the spraying at 10-15
days interval if the infestation persists.
Disease Management
Damping off
Deep summer ploughing, raised seed beds of 15cm height
and rabbing the seed bed.
Apply Bordeax mixture (0.4%) (Copper Sulphate 40g +
lime 40g in 10 l of water) or copper oxy chloride @ 2g l-1
with rose can two weeks after sowing (10L for 10m2).
Repeat the application at an interval of 4 days.
Spray metalaxyl + mancozeb @ 2g l-1 twice at 20 and 35 days
after germination.
Black shank and leaf blight
Drench the seed bed with bordeax mixture (1%) or copper
oxychloride @ 3g l-1 2-3 days before sowing.
Spray metalaxyl + mancozeb @ 2g l-1 twice
in the nursery at 20 and 35 DAS.
While planting apply 100ml of bordeax mixture (0.2%),
or copper oxy chloride @ 2g l-1 in the planting hole and
then plant.
Leaf spots
Remove and destroy the infected leaves / plants in the
nursery and spray carbendazim @ 0.5g l-1 or zineb @ 2g l-1
twice at 10 days interval.
Spray carbendazim @ 0.5g l-1 at 15 days interval
starting from 30 DAP.
Orabanche
Avoid to grow brinjal, tomato and bhendi in sick soils,
remove orabanche before flowering 4 times at weekly intervals commencing
from 40 DAP using CTRI orbanche speer and grow trap crops like jowar,
ginelly, blackgram during kharif.
Root knot nematode
Grow non hosts like chillies, cotton and redgram for
three seasons.
