CASTOR Ricinus communis Family - Euphorbiaceae Origin and Distribution Eastern Africa Most probably Ethiopia India, Brazil,

il, China, Argentina, USA, Thailand, Queensland, Egypt and Sudan In India Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar The plant Two groups Tall - giant tree like, tap roots Short dwarf, tap root less apparent Stem Round glabrous and covered with waxy bloom Leaves dark green, palmate with 5 -11 lobs Inflorescence spike or candle Male flowers in lower raceme High temperature more male flowers - maleness. Female flower in upper raceme Fruits globular capsule, spiny to some degree, hard and brittle when ripe

Floral biology Inflorescence borne in terminal, many ,flowering panicles 10 to 40 cm long, monoecious with male at the base and female flowers at the top. Inflorescence is protogynous. Male flower : Occurs in 3-16 flowered cyme sepals 3 to 5, petals absent, stamens numerous with much branched filaments. Anthers yellow in colour. Female flower: One to seven flowered cymes. Pedicels 4 to 5 mm long. Sepals 3-5 green connate, bursting irregularly, petals absent, ovary superior. The female flowers are seen on the top 30-50% of the inflorescence. Cross pollinated crop protogynous and wind pollinated. Flower opening between 8 -12 noon. Female flowers set seed and fruits are developing before the male flowers open on the same inflorescence. The anthers burst explosively on drying scattering copious pollen. Pollination is by birds and to some extend by insects. The proportion of female and male flowers on the inflorescence decides the success of cross pollination Other varieties : Hybrids GCH5 GCH 4 DCH 32 CI1 Aruna, Bhagya, RC-8 and Sowbagh :GAUCH1, GCH2, GCH3, GCH4, GCH5, DCH 32. :Geeta x SH 72 :VP 1 x 48-1 :LRES 17 x REC 5

Land requirement A well fertile soil with good drainage should be selected. The crop can not tolerate alkalinity and salinity. It performs well with medium to deep sandy loam and heavy loam soils are highly suited for seed production. Isolation (m) Varieties & Hybrids Season Season has profound influence on sex expression. Summer and Kharif provide ideal male promoting environment for undertaking seed production of the variety, male and female parents of hybrids Rabi/winter is highly suitable season for hybrid seed production. Kharif and summer encourages good expression of less productive plant which could easily eliminated through timely roguing. Similarly the female parents when raised in male promoting environment produce environmentally sensitive staminate flowers. Which are very essential for self production of the female parents. FS 300 CS 150

Sex expression Castor is monoecious with pistillate flowers on the upper portion of the raceme and staminate flowers in different orders of racemes show wide variation both in and among the genotyeps. It is maximum in the first raceme and declines thereafter progressively in subsequent orders viz., secondary and tertiary. There is a proportionate increase in the number of staminate flowers, the extend of male flowers being highest in later formed raceme. This is associated with the genotypes and mean day temperature. Temperature is an important factor and plays a major role in sex expression. At temperatures less than 32oC then plant tends to female and more than 32oC then towards male. Bloom The presence of white waxy coating or bloom on plant confers certain advantages of natural protection against extreme weather conditions (cold, drought). There are 4 types of bloom. 1 .No Bloom - Bloom absent in all parts above the ground 2. Single bloom - Bloom only on stem 3. Double bloom - Bloom on stem, petioles, and lower side of leaves 4. Triple bloom - Bloom on all parts above ground For deciding the blooming nature freshly emerged parts should be used.

Manure's and fertilizers Compost NPK Seed rate Varieties : Hybrids : 10 kg ha-1 Male : Female : Spacing 4 kg ha-1 6 kg ha-1 12.5 tons ha-1 30 : 50 : 50kg ha-1

Hybrids : Planting ratio : Rouging

90 x 40 to 90 x 60 Male : Female : 3:1 or 4-6:1

Removal of off-types is important in the following 4 stages

Field Standards Character Varieties FS 1. Off types % (Max) Irrigation The critical stages of irrigation are primordial initiation and flowering in differential segmental order branches. Moisture stress in sensitive crop growth stages may lead to production of more male flowers in monoecious varieties Pest management Apply Endosulfan 4 D 25 kg / ha to control semi looper and other pests. Apply neem seed kernal extract 3% + Neem seed oil 2% for control of castor semi lopper Harvesting : Castor produces 4 or 5 sequential order spikes, which can conveniently be harvested in 3-4 pickings starting from 90-120 days at 25-30 days interval. Observe the crop considering the average duration of varieties I) one or more capsules showing signs of drying 2) Cut the mature raceme without the damage of the secondaries. 3) The dry the capsule in the sun without the heaping it in the shade. 4) Use castor sheller and the separate seeds or beat the dried capsule with wooden planks, winnow and collect the seeds. 0.1 CS 0.2 Hybrids FS 0.5 CS 1.0

Premature harvesting lead to reduced seed weight, oil content and germination. Since shattering is not a problem in any variety harvesting can be delayed until all capsules in the spike are fully dried. Even though the locules open in some non-dehiscent types, the membrane covering the seed remain intact and source seed does not fall off to the ground. Grading:-The uniformity in seeds can be obtained by sieving the seeds using 8/64" round perforated metal sieve. Seed standard :-The minimum seed quality requirement of the seed crop is as follows

Seed storage The seeds treated with Thiram @ 2.5 g/kg of seed can be stored up to 1 year in pervious containers and upto 2 years in moisture vapour proof containers