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Tapioca
Botanical Name – Manihot esculenta Crantz
Family- Euphorbia

Varieties

CO 2, CO 3, CO (Tp) 4, CO (Tp ) 5, MVD 1, H 165, H 226, Sree Visakham
(H.1687), Sree Sahya (H.2304), Sree Prakash (S. 856), Sree Vijaya, Sree Jaya, SreeRekha, Sree Prabha, Sree Athulya, Sree Raksha (CMD resistant), Yethapur 1 (YTP 1)

Climate and Soil

Soil –

Well drained soil preferably red lateritic loam with a pH range of 5.5-7.0 is ideal.

Climate-

• Thrives best in tropical, warm humid climate with well distributed rainfall of over 100 cm per annum.
• Cultivated upto an elevation of 1000 m.

Season and Planting

• Plant throughout the year under irrigation.
• Plant during April for rainfed crop.
• Select healthy mosaic free vigorous plants for taking planting materials.
• Prepare setts of 15 cm long with 8 – 10 nodes from the middle portion of the stem.
• Avoid mechanical damage while preparation and handling of setts.
• The cut end should be uniform. Dip the setts in Carbendazim 1 g in one liter of water for 15 minutes before planting to prevent tuber rot.
• Dip the setts in Dimethoate @ 2 ml/litre of water + Carbendazim @ 2 g/litre of water for 15 minutes before planting.
• Scale insects and mealy bug adhering to the planting materials may be destroyed by the sett treatment
• Plant the setts vertically with buds pointing upward on the sides of ridges.
• 12,500 setts are needed for planting one ha.
• For rainfed conditions, treat the setts with a mixture of potassium chloride @ 5 g/lit and micronutrients viz., ZnSO4 and FeSO4 each @ 0.5% for 20 minutes.
• Dip the setts for 20 minutes in Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria each at 30 g/l

Virus elimination and tissue culture in cassava

• The protocol for virus elimination through tissue culture has been standardized for the varieties MVD 1 and H 226 by using meristem culture.
• The Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with BAP at 0.1 mg/l for meristem establishment and shoot growth and MS medium without growth regulators for rooting have to be followed.
• The in vitro plantlets are to be hardened in sterile pot mixture (sand : soil : FYM in 1 : 1: 1) under mist chamber for 10-15 days and later kept under shade net for 10 days before transferring them to the open field.

Preparation of Field

• Plough the field 4 – 5 times to get a fine tilth.
• The soil depth should be atleast 30 cm.
• Form ridges and furrows at the following spacings:

Irrigated
75 x 75 cm (17,777 setts) and 90 x 90 cm (12,345 setts).

Rainfed
60 x 60 cm (27,777 setts)

Under Kanyakumari conditions
90 x 90 cm (12,345 setts

Irrigation

• First irrigation is given at the time of planting.
• Life irrigation is given on the 3rd day followed by once in 7 – 10 days
• upto 3rd month and  once in 20 – 30 days upto 8th month.

Drip Irrigation

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

Sequential Cropping

• Raise CO 2 vegetable cowpea during March and harvest green pods before planting cassava during June –July.
• After green pod harvest, incorporate the cowpea haulms into the field by disc ploughing.
• Through sequential cropping, 50% reduction in application of FYM
  (12.5 t/ha) and P (30 kg/ha) is ensured.

Manuring

• Irrigated crop
• Apply 25 t FYM/ha and incorporate at the time of planting.
• Apply 45:90:120 kg NPK/ha as basal and 45:120 kg NK/ha 90 days after planting during earthing up.
• Apply 25kg ZnSo4, 20 kg S as gypsum, 10 kg Borax ha-1 as basal soil application.
• Rainfed crop
• Apply FYM at 12.5 t/ha along with 50 kg N, 65 kg P and 125 kg K/ha as basal.
• Apply 2 kg of Azotobactor through soil application at 30 – 60 days after planting on receipt of showers (2.0 kg Azotobacter + 20 kg FYM + 20 kg soil per hectare).

Fertigation
90: 90 :240 kg of NPK / ha. Apply once in every three days throughout the cropping
period.
Spacing

60 x 90cm in paired row system.

Fertigation Schedule

75% RD of Phosphorus applied as superphosphate 421.88 kg/ha.
1. 19:19:19 = 47. kg / ha.
2. 13:0:45 = 140kg/ha.
3. 12:61:0 = 23kg/ha
4. 0:0:50 = 335kg / ha
5. Urea = 132 kg / ha.

Chlorosis
Foliar spray of 1% FeSO4 + 0.5% ZnSO4 at 60 and 90 DAP.
After Cultivation

• Fill up the gaps within 20 days of planting.
• Carry out first weeding 20 days after planting.
• Subsequent weeding should be done once in a month upto 5 months depending
  upon the weed intensity.
• Thin to two shoots per plant during 60th day.
• Grow aggregate onion, coriander, short duration pulses and short duration vegetables as intercrops from planting date upto 60 days

Plant Protection

1.Spiralling whitefly: Aleurodicus disperses

4.Cassava mealy bug : Paracoccus marginatus

Diseases

1.Mosaic

Management-

• Select the planting materials from healthy plants
• Remove alternate weed hosts viz., Abutilon indicum
• Install yellow sticky trap at 12 Nos/ha
• Use nitrogen judiciously
• Avoid excessive irrigation
• Spray neem oil @ 3 % or fish oil rosin soap @ 25 g/l 
• Apply methyl demeton in the early stage and phosalone in the late stages of crop growth

2.Cercospora Leaf spot

• Spray mancozeb @ 2 g/l twice at 15 days interval

3.Tuber rot

• Avoid water stagnation
•  Give good drainage facilities
• Spot drench with copper oxychloride @ 2.5 g/l or soil application of Trichoderma asperellum @ 2.5 kg/ha as basal and at 3rd and 6th month after planting

Crop Duration

9 to 11 months

Harvest

• Crop can be harvested at 9 to 11 months after planting.
• During tuber maturity, the leaves become yellow and 50 % of leaves become dried and sheds off.
• The soil near the stem base of the stem shows cracking.
• Tubers can be uprooted by using fork or crow bar.

Yield

Irrigated : 40 – 50 t/ha
Rainfed : 20 – 25 t/ha

Market Information

Crop Growing districts                           Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Dharmapuri, Villupuram
Major markets in Tamil Nadu              Salem, Dharmapuri, Erode