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Oats is an important rabi (winter season) fodder crop. It can be grown under restricted irrigation facilities. In nutritive value, oats is next to berseem. It is highly palatable and very good source of energy. It yields about 200-220 quintal given fodder and 6-8 quintal seed per acre.
Soil Type : Oats grows well on all types of soils, except the alkaline or water logged . It can tolerate slight acidic and saline conditions.
Improved varieties: Kent, OL-9, OS-6, OS-8, Haryana Jai, UPO-212, JAO 822.
Seed bed preparation: Prepare seed bed by giving three ploughings to make it free from weeds and pulverized.
Time of sowing: The optimum time of sowing is from second week to last week of October.
Seed Rate and Sowing: Thirty kg of seed of small seeded and 40 Kg. seed of bold seeded varieties should be sown per acre by the kera method or with pora or drill in rows 25-30 cm. However, 10-15 per cent higher fodder yield can be obtained through bi-directional method of sowing using the same seed rate. The seed should be treated with @ one g Vitavax per kg of seed to ensure freedom from smut.
Manure and Fertilizer requirement: Maize responds well to the application farm yard manure and compost . Apply 10 ton farm yard manure or compost per acre one fortnight before sowing . In addition to it aply 25 kg urea at sowing time and 25 kg urea 25-30 days after sowing. In the absence of farm yard manure application it reuires 110 kg urea per ace. In addition to this in two split doses. Half of the urea should be applied at the time of sowing and remaining half 25-30 days after sowing.
Fertilizer Application : Apply 24 kg of N (50 kg Urea) and 8 kg P2 O5 (50 kg single Superphosphate or 50 kg DAP) per acre at sowing and 24 kg N (50 kg Urea) 30-40 days after sowing after first irrigation. In case of double cut management second dose of urea can be splited and apply 25 kg. urea after first cutting.
Irrigation : Three to four irrigation including the pre-sowing irrigation are sufficient. First irrigation should be given 25-30 days after sowing and subsequent irrigations at an interval of 30-35 days. In case multicut management irrigation should be given after each cutting.
Weed Control: Inter-culture is generally not necessary but the growth of weeds must be checked in the early stages of the crop by weeding, if necessary. Pre-emergence application of 0.2 Kg linuron per acre or post emergence of 0.2 kg 2,4-D per acre give effective control of weeds.
Harvesting: The harvesting of oats should be dome from boot to milk stage.In case of multicut management first cutting should be done 55-65 days after sowing leaving a suitable height of 3-4 inch and subsequent cuttings at 45-50 days interval.
Seed Production: Seed crop should be sown in the second fortnight of November and it gives about 8 quintals seed per acre. However, the crop sown before 15 November should be left for seed production after taking one cutting for fodder at 55-65 days after sowing. Apply an additional dose of 12 kg N (33 kg urea) per acre after sprouting. This crop gives about 6 quintals of seed besides 100 quintals per acre of green fodder.
