PLUG-TRAY NURSERY RAISING TECHNOLOGY FOR OFF-SEASON CUCURBITS CULTIVATION

In India, cucurbits are mainly sown by seeds during their normal season of cultivation. Seedlings of these vegetables can not be raised through traditional system of nursery raising on soil beds, because these vegetables are not tolerate against slightest damage to their root and shoot system during their uprooting and transplanting. This kind of damage can not be avoided in the traditional system of seedling raising, therefore it was not in general practice to transplant these vegetable through seedlings. Thereafter, a method of nursery raising was evolved in which off-season seedlings were raised in small polyethylene bags using soil and compost (50:50) as a media, but this system needs lot of protected space and is labour intensive. During the transportation process the crop in main field needs large quantity of media and does high damage to root system ant it is also not very eco-friendly, therefore, not accepted by growers in India But at the Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi a nursery raising technology for cucurbits had been developed and standardized in which seedlings of major cucurbits are raised in multi-celled plastic plug trays containing each cell of a volume of 18-20 cc and inverted pyramid in shape by using coco-peat, vermiculite and perlite as soil-less media in 3:1:1 ratio on volume basis. This technique is not only efficient in vigorous root development but also suitable to avoid any damage to the roots and shoots of the seedlings at the time of transplanting. This technology is economical and suitable for the cucurbits growers in northern plains of India, because with the introduction of this technique, farmers can grow large number of seedlings as per requirement for off-season cultivation of cucurbits (with various varieties) for fetching high price of their off-season produce. The plug tray nursery raising technology is suitable for Melons, gourds and squashes for their off season cultivation in Northern India. This kind of technology is good option for the agri. entrepreneur by the progressive farmers or unemployed educated youths in major vegetable growing parts of the country.