Castor is annual plant mainly grown for its seeds. Oil extracted from its seed is non-edible but is of great Industrial use. It is used in soap making, printing inks, as a lubricant , also used for medicinal and lighting purpose. After oil extraction, remaining oil cake is used as organic manure. India is major producer of castor and Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan are major castor growing states.  

Land unfit for commercial farming or having less fertility are used for castor cultivation. But it give best result when grown on deep, well drained, fertile, slightly acidic sandy loam soils. Ideal pH of soil should be in range of 5 to 8.5.

Girija: Ready for production in 160days after sowing. Seeds content 49% oil.

Aruna: Ready for harvesting in 160days after sowing. Seeds content 50% oil content.

AKC 1: Developed by PKV, Akola. Seeds content 45% oil. 

Gujarat Castor -2:  Variety. Seeds content 49% oil.

DCH 32: Hybrid variety. Gives oil content of 49%.

G.C.H 4: Hybrid ready to harvest in 210-240days. Resistant to root rot disease. Gives average yield of 8-9qtl/acre under irrigated conditions. 

Other state varieties:

Varieties : Jwala, Jyoti, Kranti, Kiran, Harita, GC 2, TMV 6.

Hybrid : DCH 519, DCH 177, GCH 6, PCH 1, TMVCH 1

Plough land deeply for three-four times in summer. It will destroyed weeds and help to conserved soil moisture. Ploughing is followed by harrowing to break clods. Then carry out levelling operations so that water stagnation will not occurred in field.

Inter cropping: Along with castor, Tur, guar gum (with ratio of 1:1), black gram, green gram, cowpea (1:2) and groundnut (1:5), soybean (4:1) can be taken. 

Time of sowing

For kharif, complete sowing with onset of monsoon i.e. from June to 15th of July.    

Spacing

It depend on variety, time of sowing etc. Use spacing of 90cmx45cm or 60cmx30cm. 

Sowing Depth

Avoid deep sowing of seeds. Sow seeds at depth of 5cm.

Method of sowing

For sowing dibbling method is used. 

Seed Rate

For Girija variety, seed rate of near about 4.8-6kg of seeds are required. For Aruna variety, seed rate of 8kg/acre is required.

Seed treatment

To protect crop from soil borne disease, before sowing treat seeds with Carbendazim@2gm/kg of seeds. 

 Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

Nutrient Requirement (kg/acre)

At time of sowing, apply well decomposed cow dung of 4 to 5 ton/acre and mixed well in soil.  

Overall castor crop required 17-20 irrigations. In rainy season it does not required irrigation. Apply Irrigation depending upon rainfall intensity and frequency. Apply first irrigation 60-75days after sowing. Avoid water stress from seedling to flowering stage. Stop irrigation during three to four week before harvesting.

Weed infestation at early stage is important. Do hand weeding for two times 20th and 50th day after sowing. Apply  Pendimethalin@0.4kg/acre/250Ltr water, second or third day after sowing. It will help to control grass as well as broad leaf weeds. 

• Pests and their control:

Semi looper: Damage crop by feeding on leaves and causes defoliation.

When infestation is low, take spray of Neem Seed Kernal Extract (NSKE)@40gm/Ltr of water. Take spray of Quinalphos@2ml or Chlorpyriphos@4ml per Ltr of water. 

Thrips and White fly: As a preventive measure, do seed treatment with Imidacloprid@5ml/kg of seeds. If infestation is observed, take spray of Malathion or Chlorpyrifos@5ml/10ltr of water.

Castor Shoot borer: Caterpillar bore into shoot and capsule and causes damage to crop.

Collect infested shoot and capsule and destroyed them away from field. If infestation is observed, take spray of Quinalphos@50ml/10Ltr of water.

• Diseases and their control:

Seedling Blight: Infection first appears on leaves and later on spread on stem causes black discoloration and defoliation of leaves.

Treat seeds with Thiram or Captan@4gm per kg of seeds.

Rust: If infestation is observed in field, take spray of Mancozeb@400 gm/acre or Propiconazole@400 ml/acre.

Leaf Blight: Treat seeds with Thiram or Captan@4gm per kg of seeds. If infestation is observed in field, take spray of Mancozeb@400 gm/acre.

Stem Rot: As a preventive measure, use stem rot resistant varieties. Before sowing, treat seeds with Thiram or Carbendazim@2gm/Kg of seeds. After chemical treatment, treat seeds with Trichoderma Viride@4gm/kg of seeds. If infestation is observed, do drenching of Carbendazim@2gm/Ltr of water for two-three times at interval of 15 days.

Wilt: This disease causes considerable loss in yield. It can affect at the seedling stage as well as in an advanced stage of plant growth.

Grow resistant varieties. In primary stage of wilt, to control mix 1 kg of Trichoderma in 200 kg well decomposed cow dung and keep it for 3 days, then apply it in wilt affected area.

Powdery Mildew: White powdery growth appears on leaf surface.

Three month after sowing, take spray of Wettable Sulphur@2 gm/Ltr for two times with interval of 15 days.

Depending upon variety, crop is ready to harvest in 145-180 days. When one or two capsules show drying or turn yellowing start harvesting of castor bunch. All bunch didn’t get mature at same time so two-three pickings are required. After harvesting dried bunches in sun for four to five days. After proper drying, carry out threshing operation. Avoid early harvesting of capsule as it will lower down oil percentage.

From well dried capsules, seeds are separated. After then from seeds castor oil is extracted. After oil extraction, oil cake contain about 8-10% castor oil. Oil cake is used as organic manure in field.