Mulberry varieties:
| No | Varieties | Growing areas /Irrigation |
| 1 | S 36 | Irrigated condition |
| 2 | V1 | Irrigated condition |
| 3 | Kanva 2 | Irrigated condition/ Semi –irrigated |
| 4 | S 13 | Rain fed condition |
| 5 | S 34 | Rain fed condition |
| 6 | S 54 | Irrigated Condition |
| 7 | DD | Irrigated Condition |
| 8 | MR 2 | Irrigated Condition/ Semi irrigated |
| 9 | S 1 | Hilly areas |
| 10 | S 7999 | Hilly areas |
| 11 | S 1635 | Hilly areas |
| 12 | S 146 | Hilly areas |
| 13 | Tr 10 | Hilly areas |
| 14 | BC 259 | Hilly areas |
| 15 | S 30 | Irrigated condition |
| 16 | RFS 135 | Rain fed condition |
| 17 | RFS 175 | Rain fed condition |
| 18 | S 1635 | Rain fed condition |
| 19 | Victoria 1 | Irrigated Condition |
| 20 | Goshoerami | Temperature |
| 21 | Chak Majra | Sub-temperate |
| 22 | China White | Temperature |
Nursery:
Bed preparation
- 800 square metre area of the manured soil and good water source
- Make nursery beds of 4 x 1.5 m ,
- Provide a drainage , it helps in the rainy season ,
- Avoid shady areas that may affect the growth and speed of growth,
- We can make the length of the nursery beds to our convenient size depending of our lands surrounding and atmosphere.
Pre – Treatment for cuttings
Mix 1kg of Azospirillum Culture (It association with the roots and fix part of atmospheric nitrogen) with 40 l of water and keep the bottom of the cuttings for 30 minutes before planting.
Planting
- Apply VAM ( Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal is a fungus which has the ability to dissolve the phosphates found in abundance in the soil)in the amount of 100 grams per square metre of nursery area.
- Check for the active bud in each cutting before planting
- Irrigate the bed and plant the cuttings in the nursery in 15 x17 cm spacing.
Management
- The nursery should be irrigated three days once
- We have a high chance of termite attack, fort we can use recommended pesticides
Transplantation of sapling
In 95-125 days the saplings will ready for transplanting in the main field.
Planting Methods:
Row System
- Ridges and furrows –
- 90 x 90 cm or 60 x 60 – for irrigated land,
- 90 x 90 cm – for rain-fed land.
- Pit system –
- 90 x 90 – for both Irrigated and rain-fed.
- Number of cuttings per hectare –
- 12,345 for 90 x 90 cm ,27, 780 for 60 x 60 cm.
Time of planting
It’s best to plant during the rainy season and we better avoid plant during winter and summer.
Planting Saplings
We can plant the well-rooted saplings at a depth of 15-20 cm, level the area around saplings.
Management of Nutrition
- We can use NPK Fertilizers (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)) as recommended for soil,
- In three months after Planting, we can apply the first dose of fertilizers,
- Apply straight fertilizers to reduce the cost.
Irrigation methods
- Flat-bed Method – the beds should be in rectangular and channels should be made, in this method more land is wasted and the cost of labour is high
- Ridges and Furrows Method – efficient method of irrigation, requires less amount of water.
- Drip irrigation Method- this method uses less amount of water, it’s recommended and best method of irrigation, better crop growth but the initial cost is very high.
Intercropping
We can do intercropping with short duration crops like Black gram, Green gram, Cowpea, this intercropping will give additional revenue and also controls the weed growth.
Pruning methods
- Bottom pruning -We should cut the plant by leaving 10-15 cm Stump above the ground
- Middle pruning – Cut the branches above the ground level 40-60 cm, after pruning the bottom subsequent cuts are made at 45-50 cm height
- Kolar or Strip system – it requires heavy fertilization and irrigation, it was done only in closely planted area. The branches should be cut at ground level every time
Harvesting
- Leaf picking – it starts from ten weeks after bottom pruning and in 7-8 weeks of an interval, pickings are done.
- Branch cutting – entire branches are fed to silkworms before the branch cuttings did, check the uniform maturity of the lower leaves.
- Whole Shoot harvest – By the method of bottom pruning the branches are cut to the bottom level, at the interval of 10-12 weeks shoots are harvested. Up to 5 to 6 harvests are made in a year.
Preservation of leaves
We can use wet gunny bags or chamber to store the leaves.
