Barley (Jau)

1. Land Preparation Barley is grown where wheat struggles — saline patches, poor rainfed land, and late situations. Two ploughings and planking. It tolerates salinity better than any other cereal grown here, so it is worth trying on land wheat has failed on.

Rabi Sowing Oct–Nov Harvest Mar–Apr 30–40 maund per acre

Land Preparation

Barley is grown where wheat struggles — saline patches, poor rainfed land, and late situations. Two ploughings and planking. It tolerates salinity better than any other cereal grown here, so it is worth trying on land wheat has failed on.

Sowing Time & Method

Mid-October to end November. Barley can be sown later than wheat and still yield, which makes it useful after a late cotton or rice harvest. Rows 8–9 inches apart.

Seed Rate & Treatment

40–45 kg per acre. Treat with a fungicide against loose smut.

Fertilizer

One bag DAP at sowing and one bag urea at first irrigation. Barley needs less nitrogen than wheat and lodges easily if overfed.

Irrigation

Two to three irrigations: at tillering, booting and grain filling.

Weed Control

Weed Damage Control Product
Wild Oat (Jangli Jai) Stands above the barley and takes light and nitrogen through tillering, so the grain fills thin. Spray at the 2–4 leaf stage, only with a product whose label clears barley; and sow clean seed
Canary Grass (Dumbi Sitti) Comes up thick with the crop and robs it of water and nitrogen right up to grain filling. Spray at the 2–4 leaf stage, only with a product whose label clears barley
Bathu (Lambsquarters) Takes nitrogen and light early, and its soft bulk lodges the crop and fouls the threshing floor. Pull it out by hand while it is small — at 8–9 inch rows a hoe cuts more barley than bathu
Field Bindweed (Lehli) Twines up the stems and pulls the crop down in patches, so harvesting slows to a crawl. Never dig or plough the patch — every cut root sends up a new shoot and the patch spreads. After harvest, cut the regrowth low every 2–3 weeks through the fallow to starve the roots.
Senji (Sweet Clover) Fills the space between the rows in the cool months, holding damp in the crop and adding nothing to the grain. Hand weed it out before it seeds

Wild oat and canary grass, the same as wheat. Spray at the 2–4 leaf stage. Check the label carefully — several wheat herbicides are not registered for barley.

Where Lehli has taken hold, the only chemical answer is on EMPTY ground: spray Repcil (glyphosate) on the green regrowth of bare stubble or fallow, before sowing or after harvest, with no crop standing — take the rate from the pack. It must never go on a standing crop.