भारतीय किसान के लिए बैंगन के उत्पादन प्रौद्योगिकी 

Brinjal or eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is an important solanaceous crop grown in India.   In India, it is one of the most common, popular and principal vegetable crops grown throughout the country except higher altitudes. It is a versatile crop adapted to different agro-climatic regions. Brinjal can be grown throughout the year. It is a perennial but grown commercially as an annual crop. The varieties of Brinjal display a wide range of fruit shapes and colours, ranging from oval or egg-shaped to long club-shaped; and from white, yellow, green through degrees of purple pigmentation to almost black. 

Seedling raising:

Nursery Bed Preparation :

Brinjal seeds are sown on nursery beds to raise seedlings for transplanting in the field. Raised beds are necessary to avoid problem of water logging in heavy soils. In sandy soils, however, sowing can be taken up in flat beds. Raised beds of size 7.2 x 1.2 m and 10-15 cm in height are prepared. Thus, ten such beds are sufficient to raise seedlings for planting one hectare area. About 70cm distance is kept between two beds to carry out operations of watering, weeding, etc. The surface of beds should be smooth and well levelled. Well-decomposed FYM or leaf mould may be mixed with the soil at the time of bed preparation. To avoid mortality of seedlings due to damping off, drenching of the beds with Bavistin (15-20 g/10 litres of water) is effective.

Raising of Seedlings :

About 250-300 g of seed are sufficient for raising seedlings for one hectare of land. Prior to sowing seeds are treated with fungal culture of Trichoderma viride (4 g/ kg of seed) or Thiram (2g/ kg of seed) to avoid damage from damping-off disease. Sowing should be done thinly in lines spaced at 5-7 cm distance. Seeds are sown at a depth of 2-3 cm and covered with a fine layer of soil followed by light watering by water can. The beds should then be covered with dry straw or grass or sugarcane leaves to maintain required temperature and moisture. The watering should be done by water can as per the need till germination is completed. The cover of dry straw or grass is removed immediately after germination is complete. During the last week in nursery, the seedlings may be hardened by slightly withholding water. The seedlings are ready for transplanting within 4-6 weeks of planting when they attain a height of 15 cm with 2-3 true leaves. The sowing and transplanting time in different seasons are as follows-

Cultural Practices

The field should be kept weed-free, especially in the initial stage of plant growth, as weeds compete with the crop and reduce the yield drastically. Frequent shallow cultivation should be done at regular interval so as to keep the field free from weeds and to facilitate soil aeration and proper root development. Deep cultivation is injurious because of the damage of roots and exposure of moist soil to the surface. Two-three hoeing and the earthing up are required to keep the crop free of weeds. Hand weeding and hoeing are done to control weeds. Black plastic mulch is also an effective method to control weeds. Black polythene mulch prevents entry of light, which restricts germination of weed seeds and growth.Preemergence application of Fluchloralin (1.5 kg a.i./ha) coupled with one hand weeding 30 days aftertransplanting is effective for control of weeds.staking is another cultural practice which help to keep branches upright and protect from wind damage. If suport is not provide then heavily bearing branches may break.

Manuring & Fertilization

Brinjal being a long duration crop, requires a good amount of manures and fertilizers for high yield. The fertilizer dose depends upon the fertility of soil and amount of organic manure applied to the crop. For a good yield, 15-20 tonnes of well-decomposed FYM is incorporated into the soil. Generally, application of 150 kg N, 100 kg P O and 50 kg K O is recommended for optimum yield. Half dose of N and full dose of P and K is given at the time of planting. The balance half of N is given in 3 equal split doses. The first split dose is given one and half month after transplanting, the second dose one month after the first application and the final at three and half months after transplanting. For hybrid varieties, the recommended dose is 200 kg N, 100 kg P O and 100 Kg K O. Out of this dose, 25 % of N and 100 % of P & K is applied as basal dose. Remaining 75 % of P is applied in three equal split doses. The first split dose of N is applies 20 days after transplanting. The second dose is given just before the onset of flowering while the third after the first picking/harvesting.

In esatern India Application of 25 t/ha FYM along with 60 kg/ha each of P2O5 and K2O has been recommended. Nitrogen is applied @ 100 kg/ha in 5 to 6 split doses during the crop growing season through fertigation.

Integrated Pest and Disease Management in brinjal:

Major pest of national significance in brinjal

1. Insect Pest :

Shoot and fruit borer, Jassid , Aphid ,White fly,

2. Diseases :

Damping off , Phomopsis blight, Little leaf,Bacterial wilt

3. Weeds

Lamb square(Chenopodium album), Pimpernel (Anagalis arvensis), Sweet clover (Melilotus sp.), Fumitory (Fumaria indica), Compsperry (spergula arvensis), Blue grass(Poa anuna), Canary grass(Phalaris minor), Rabit foot grass(Dectyloctium aegyptium)

4. Nematode

IPM stratigies in brinjal

I. Cultural Practices

• Phytosanitation to reduce the source of inoculum such as removal of plant after final harvest, volunteer plants. Clean planting materials, preferably certified seeds should be used.
• Crop rotation with French bean reduce bacterial wilt incidence. For root knot and reniform nematode crop rotation should be done with non host crop like sorghum and wheat. Intercropping with marigold, onion and garlic also recommended for nematode management.
• Adaptation of raise nursery bed (10 cm) for good drainage thereby avoid damping off in solanaceous nursery by preventing soil born fungi viz. Pythium, Phytophthora and Rizoctonia.
• Soil solarization using black HDPE transparent polythene sheets(60-100 gauge) on nursery beds for about 15 -20 days which helps in killing weed seeds, nematodes and resting stages of insects and diseases
• Deep summer plough also helps to expose resting stage of pests to sun light
• Avoiding over dose of nitrogen and phosphorus on brinjal reduces the incidence of shoot and fruit borer
• Avoid excess use of water for disease management
• Use of ash dust reduces the incidence of shoot and fruit borer
• Destruction of crop residues /debris and alternate host plants reduces the inoculum load of many folier diseases.
• Crop seedling should be planted timely in well prepared fields at recommended spacing. Use balanced doses of fertilizers to obtain optimum plant population and healthy crop stand, which would be capable of copeting with weeds at initial stages of crop growth.
• Selection of less susceptible varieties like SB17-4, PBR-129-5, Punjab Barsati, Arka Kasumakar, Pusa Purple Cluster for shoot and fruit borer

II. Mechanical Control

• Collection and destruction of egg masses, larvae and adults of Hadda beetle and tobacco cutworm
• Removal of damage shoot,fruit and fruit borer and destruction.
• Use of yellow pan/sticky traps for sucking pest @ 10 per ha.
• Regular destruction of damage fruits at each harvest in brinjal to reduce the population.
• Crop should be maintained weed free for 4 to 6 weeks after by resorting to timely hand hoeing and hand weeding

III. Biological Control

 1. Conservation

• Pristomerus testsceus, Cremastus flavoorbitalis, Bracon greeni, Phanerotoma sp., and Campyloneura sp. on L. orbanalis; Pristomerus euzopherae against E. perticela; Microbracon psarae against Psra bipumctalis; Chrysonotomyia appannai, Chrysocharis johnsoni, Elasmus sp., Pediobius feveolatus, Tetrastichus ovulorum against Epilachna sp.; Aphidus sp. aginst aphids and Euritoma sp. on Asphondylia ap.
• In adition to these parasites, general predators like Coccinellids, Syrphid, Spiders, Carabids, Staphylinids, Dragonfly, Damsefly, Pradatory miridbugs, Predatory pentatomids, Nabid bugs, Reduvid bugs, Anthocoridbugs, Geocorid bugs; Predatory mite, Pradatory thrips also actively suppress the pest population.
• Since these natural enemies are highly prone for pesticides, avoiding unnecessary sprays are the best way to conserve them.
• Grow cowpea and pulses on the bunds to buildup natural enemy fauna.
• Install bird perchers @50 per ha.

 2. Augmentation

• Release Crysoperla camea @ 2 grubs per plant to control aphids and other soft bodies insects during early in the season.
• Inudative release of T. chilonis @ 50000 per ha, in brinjal 5 times starting from flower initiation stage at weekly interval against shoot and fruit borer.

IV. Biopesticides

• Spray Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki, the commercial preparation@500 g/ha against lepidopteran pests.
• Seed treatment with trichoderma viride/ tricoderma harzianum@2g per100of seeds to prevent seed and soil borne infection of fungal diseases.

V. Botanical Pesticides

• Five percent NSKE spray for sucking pests in early stages of the crop; it also takes care of serpentine leaf miner.
• Application of Neem cake @200kg/ha, a basal dose at the time of land preparation for controlling root-knot nematode infection.

VI. Chemical control

• Chemical pesticide should be used on need basis as a last resort. Only when pest population intensity crossed economic threshold level, the safer pesticide should be applied judiciously.
• Folier spray of carbendazim 50%@300g/ha to control early leaf spots (Alternaria solani) whenever the disease is noticed.
• Application of bleaching powder @15kg/ha before planting against Bacterial wilt infection in endemic areas.
• Application of carbofuran @ 1kg a.i/ha during early stage of crop growth to avoid sucking pest and also nematode.
• Spray cypermethrin 50g a.i/ha at 15 days interval.
• Root dipping in dimethoate 0.02%, 6 hour before transplanting for the control of little leaf disease of brinjal by avoiding jassids infestation in early stage of crop growth.
• For weed management apply fluchoralin@ 0.9-1.35kg a.i/ha as pre-planting soil incorporation.
• Treat nursery bed with carbofuran 3G@ 0.3-0.5kg a.i/ha.

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