FINGER MILLET (RAGI, MANDUA) Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn.

Cultivated mainly in Asia and Africa and is predominantly grown in the Peninsular Indian states
of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Importance
1. Staple food crop in many hilly regions of the country
2. Grown both for grain and forage
3. In Northern hills grains are eaten in the form of chapaties
4. In South India grain flour is used for preparing gruel, cakes or unleavened bread,
puddings, porridges, sweets etc.
5. Germinating grains are malted and fed to infants and good for pregnant woman.
6. Considered as nutritive food for adults of different ages
7. Grain contains 9.2% protein, 1.29% fat, 76.32% carbohydrates, 2.24% minerals 3.% ash
and 0.33% Ca. Contain vitamins A and B with small amount of P.
8. Good for persons suffering from diabetes.
9. Green straw suitable for making silage.
Origin: India
Distribution: India, Africa, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China and Japan
Area and Production
India: Area 19.1 lakh ha Production 27.62 lakh t Productivity 1440 kg/ha
Area: Karnataka > Orissa > TN > UP > AP
(In lakh ha) 9.64 2.29 1.62 1.38
Production: Karnataka > TN > UP > Orissa > AP
(In lakh tones) 16.3 3.16
Average Productivity: TN > Karnataka > UP
(In kg/ha) 1950 1690
Soil And Climatic Requirement
? Grown wide variety soils and thrives best in well-drained loam or clay loam
? Tolerates salinity better than other cereals
? Tropical and sub-tropical crop, grows from sea level to 2100m on hill slopes
? Grown in areas having average rainfall 50 to 100cm
? In higher rainfall areas raised as transplanted crop.
Season: Kharif, Rabi and summer. Kharif and Rabi crops are rainfed while summer crop is
irrigated. In Karnataka, AP and TN, grown in Rabi (Sep to Oct) as irrigated crop.
Varieties: Godavari, Indaf 5, Sarada, PR 202, BR 407, EC 4840, Co 7, Co 11, Co 12
Particulars Indaf 5 Co 11 Co 12 Co 13
Duration (days) 105-100 90-95 110-120 95-100
Grain yield (Irrigated) 4000 4750 4750 3600
Kg/ha (RF) 2500 3250 3250 2300
Straw yield (Irrigated) 7500 8750 8750 10000
Kg/ha (RF) 5200 6250 6250 7500
Growth Stages
Stages 80 days crop 100 days crop 120 days crop
Vegetative Phase (Nursery) 1 to 16 1 to 18 1 to 20
50
Vegetative Phase (Main field) 1 to 18 1 to 20 1to 22
Flowering phase 19 to 40 21 to 55 23 to 69
Maturity phase Beyond 40 Beyond 55 Beyond 69
Nursery Management
a. Seeds and sowing
? Seed rate: 5 kg/ ha for transplanting and 8-10kg for direct sowing
? 12.5 cents (500 m2) nursery area required/ha
? Prepare land and mix 37.5kg super phosphate and 500 kg FYM or compost
? Form raised beds of 3.0x1.5m with 30cm channels
? Seed treatment with fungicides done 24 hours prior to sowing
? Azospirillum seed treatment @ 3 packets/ha seed rate (600g/ha)
? Make rills of1cm depth, broadcast and cover the seeds with 500kg powdered FYM
? Do not sow the seeds deeply as germination will be adversely affected
b. Schedule the irrigation as given below for nursery
No. of
irrigations
Red soil Heavy soil
1st Immediately after sowing Immediately after sowing
2nd 3rd day after sowing 4th day after sowing
3rd 7th day after sowing 9th day after sowing
4th 12th day after sowing 16th day after sowing
5th 17th day after sowing
c. Pulling out seedling: Pull out on 17th 20th day of sowing
Main Field Preparation Manuring And Planting
? Plough the field thoroughly to get a good tilth
? Incorporate 12.5t/ha of FYM or compost or composted coir pith
? Apply NPK as per soil test or adopt a blanket recommendation of 60:30:30 kg/ha of NPK
? Apply half N and full P and K basally and incorporate in last ploughing
? Apply 10 packets/ha (2000g) by mixing with 25 kg sand and 25kg FYM before
transplanting
? Form beds of 10 or 20 m2 with suitable irrigation channels
? Apply 12.5 kg micronutrient mixture with enough sand and do not
? incorporate
? Let water in to the bed and level the bed
? Plant 18 to 20 days seedling, 2 per hill at a depth of 3cm spacing 15x15cm
? Root dip for 15 to 30 minutes with Azospirillum 5 pkts (1000g) in 40 lit water
? Top dress the remaining half N in two equal splits on 15th and 30th day after transplanting
coinciding the weeding
? Aged seedlings beyond 21 days increase the seedlings to 3/hilland increase nitrogen by
25% to reduce the loss
Water Management: Regulate irrigation according to growth phases.
Crop duration
Stages Days
No. of
irrigation 80 Days 100 Days 120 Days
Heavy soils
Establishment 1-7 1
2
1st day
5th day
1st day
5th day
1st day
5th day
51
Vegetative phase 8-20 1
2
18th day
31st day
20th day
33rd day
20th day
30th day
Flowering phase 21-55 1
2
3
41st day
51st day
42nd day
52nd day
37th day
44th day
63rd day
Maturity phase 56-120 1
2
61st day 62nd day 78th day
93rd day
Light soils
Establishment 1-7 1
2
1st day
5th day
1st day
5th day
1st day
5th day
Vegetative phase 8-20 1
2
15th day
26th day
16th day
28th day
16th day
28th day
Flowering phase 21-55 1
2
3
36th day
45th day
36th day
45th day
54th day
36th day
45th day
54th day
Maturity phase 56-120 1
2
58th day
70th day
69th day 78th day
93rd day
Stop irrigation there after.
Critical stages: Tillering and pre -flowering
Weed Management
? Apply Butachlor 2.5 l/ha or Fluchloralin 2 l/ha or pendimethalin 2.5 l/ha as pre -emergence
and if sufficient moisture is not available irrigate immediately
? If pre emergence is not applied hoe hand weed on 15th and 30th day after transplanting
? For rainfed directed seeded crop apply post emergence herbicide 2,4-DEE or 2,4-D Na salt
at 0.5 kg/ha on 10th day after sowing depending on moisture availability
Cropping System
? Intercropped with legumes such as field beans, cowpea, fodder sorghum or occasionally
with other millets
? 4 to 5 rows of ragi with a row of field bean is very common in Karnataka and AP
? Sequenced with groundnut, horse gram, cotton, tobacco or sesame
Harvesting
? Does not mature uniformly and hence two stage harvest done
? Ear head of main shoot and 50% of ear heads turn brown first harvest made
? Dried ear heads dried, threshed and cleaned
? Seven days after first harvest cut all the ear heads including green ones
? Ear heads cut with sickles first then the straw is harvested
? Cure by heaping the harvested ear heads in shade for one day without drying to make
greener ear heads mature
? Then dry, thresh and clean
? Harvested heads are threshed using conventional beating with sticks and treading under
the feet of animals. Machine threshing is also common