In order to prevent the seedlings from desiccation due to intense heat and beating rains, under Dinhata conditions bamboo mats or jute-stick covers are placed directly on the beds while in Pusa the seed beds are covered with grass thaties or dry grass spreads. At Hunsur, paddy-straw covering was found to give adequate protection to the seed. Covering the tobacco nursery beds with coir mat pandal gave 21.9% increase in transplantable seedlings over geotextile or paddy straw and also saves two waterings per day.
Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology
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