PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES
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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Abstract
• Land is prepared to get fine tilth before
  planting of grapes. Before establishing vineyard,
  the bushes in the fields are cleared, perennial
  weeds are killed and the ploughing operations are
  made.
• Ploughing operations are mainly two types such
  as primary tillage and secondary tillage.
• Country plough, disc plough and mould board
  plough are generally used for deep ploughing
  (primary tillage) operations and country plough,
  cultivator, harrows, plank, roller etc.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• After completion of tillage operations, the land
  is prepared according to the requirement.
  Trenches of about 75 cm width, 75 cm deep and
  length according to the field slope in a
  north-south direction with an inter-space of
  about 3 m between trenches are dug. Required
  manures and fertilizers are applied and planting
  of grapes is done.
• Learning objectives
• To learn the various implements used for primary
  and secondary tillages for vineyard
  establishment.
• To study the land modifications required before
  planting of grapes.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Introduction
• Grape (Vitis vinifera) is a deciduous crop. Its
  natural habitat is temperate climate. Hot and dry
  climate is ideal.
• Grapes are grown on a variety of soils. Soil
  with good drainage and water-holding capacity
  with a pH range of 6.57.5 is ideally-suited for
  grapes.
• Ploughing or tillage is mechanical manipulation
  of soil using different implements, the most
  important field operation carried out before
  grapes planting.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Grapes is having deep root system and planting
  is generally practiced with trenches, deep
  ploughing is mandatory.
• There are several machineries or ploughs put in
  use to prepare the land deep and pulverized
  manner.
• Initially, wooden tools and ploughs are used and
  due to mechanization, many modern tillage
  implements are being used for ploughing the soil
  deep (primary tillage), pulverization (secondary
  tillage) and further field preparations such as
  layout and trench formation (land modification).

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Tillage for grapes
• Tillage is the first and the most important
  operation in vineyards. Tillage operations are
  generally carried out before planting of grape
  vines.
• Tillage operations are generally of two stages,
  viz. primary and secondary tillages.
• Primary tillage
• Primary tillage or ploughing is opening of the
  compacted soil with the help of different tools
  and implements preferably used for this purpose
  is ploughs.
• In addition, primary tillage also aims to
  inversion (whenever necessary) of soil, uprooting
  of weeds and stubbles

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Deep ploughing results large sized clods, when
  these exposed to sun and cooling due to summer
  rains, clods get crumbled and process of gradual
  disintegration of clods improves soil structure.
• The rhizomes and tubers of perennial weeds viz.,
  Cynodon dactylon and Cyperus rotundus are killed
  due to exposure to hot sun. Summer ploughing
  reduces pest incidences by exposing pupae to hot
  sun.
• Deep tillage also improves soil moisture content
  by retaining more moisture in ploughed furrows
  during rainy period.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• In vineyard, in olden days, country plough was
  the most widely used tillage implement in the
  developing countries.
• However, due to the scientific advancement and
  mechanization, many modern tillage implements
  have replaced the country plough.
• Deep ploughing is generally made in vineyards
  using cultivator (5 tyne), disc plough and mould
  board plough.
• Better ploughing and soil inversion is necessary
  for vineyard establishment and hence, either disc
  or mould board ploughs usage have an edge over
  cultivators.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Hard pans may exist in the soil, may be any kind
  like, silt pans, iron or aluminum pans, clay pans
  or man-made pans, will hinder the root growth of
  grapes.
• Sub-soiling is breaking the hard pan without
  inversion and with less disturbance of top soil.
  A narrow cut is made in the top soil, while share
  of the sub-soiler shatters hard pans.
• Chisel ploughs are generally used to break hard
  pans present beyond 50cm deep before vineyard
  establishment

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Harrows are used for shallow cultivation in
  operations such as pulverization of soil by
  breaking clods, destroying weeds etc.
• Harrows are of two types disc harrow and blade
  harrow. The discs cut through the soil and
  effectively pulverize the clods through concave
  discs of 45 to 55 cm in diameter. Blade harrows
  are used for different purposes like removal of
  weeds and stubbles, crushing of clods, working of
  soil to shallow depth.
• Plank is a very simple implement and consists of
  a heavy wooden beam of 2 m in length. Clods are
  crushed and micro-leveling is also made.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Land modification in grapes
• After primary and secondary tillage operations,
  the field is laid into plots according to the
  slope, water availability, soil type and other
  management practices.
• Land within a plot is leveled perfectly to have
  a gradient of lt1.0 in any direction.
• This ensures better establishment of cuttings of
  grapes besides uniform discharge of water through
  the emitters of drip irrigation systems is used
  for leveling the land perfectly.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Grapes is mainly planted with trench method.
• Trenches of about 75 cm width, 75 cm depth and
  with convenient length in a north-south direction
  are made.
• The distance between trench is varying according
  to the variety.
• The trenches are earlier made using man power
  but, now machines are put in use to take-up
  trenches.
• Trenches are closed with topsoil, up to a height
  of 45 cm after 15 days exposure to sun.
• The remaining gap is filled with a mixture of
  soil, manure and recommended fertilizers.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Pit also can be made to plant the cuttings of
  grapes. About 75cm deep and 1m wide pits are
  opened. Pit is filled as like in trenches and
  planting is followed.
• Of late, a closer planting of 2.5 x 1.0 m as
  against the recommended spacing of 3.0 x 2.0 m
  combined with fertigation is practiced.
• Staggered trenches are dug-out across the slope
  in full length or width of the field.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Trenches of 75 cm width, 75 cm depth and length
  according to the field stretch in a north-south
  direction with an inter-space of 3 m between
  trenches are dug.
• The trenches are filled with top soil up to a
  height of 30 cm and are then exposed to sun for
  about 30 days.
• Then the remaining portion is filled with a
  mixture of green manures, Calotropis leaves, tank
  silt and farm yard manure.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Summary
• Deep ploughing is mandatory in Grapes, since it
  is having deep root system.
• In vineyard, in olden days, country plough was
  the most widely used tillage implement in the
  developing countries.
• Different types of levelers are put in to use in
  leveling before vineyard establishment.

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Summary
• Better ploughing and soil inversion is necessary
  for vineyard establishment and hence, either disc
  or mould board ploughs usage is necessary.
• Chisel ploughs are used to break hard pans
  present beyond 50cm deep before vineyard
  establishment.
• Disc harrows, cultivators, blade harrows,
  country plough etc., are used for secondary
  tillage in vineyard establishment

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• Summary
• Grapes is mainly planted with trench method.
  Trenches of about 75 cm width, 75 cm depth and
  with convenient length in a north-south direction
  are made.
• Pit also can be made to plant the cuttings of
  grapes. About 75cm deep and 1m wide pits are
  opened.
• Of late, a closer planting of 2.5 x 1.0 m as
  against the recommended spacing of 3.0 x 2.0 m
  combined with fertigation is practiced.

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ASSESSMENT

• 1.Deep ploughing is mandatory in land preparation
  of grapes (True/False).
• 2.Disc or mould board ploughs are main primary
  tillage implements used in grapes (True/False).
• 3.Country ploughs are used to break hard pans
  before vineyard establishment (True/False).
• 4.Disc harrows, cultivators, blade harrows,
  country plough are used for secondary tillage in
  vineyard establishment (True/False).
• 5.Grapes is mainly planted with pit method
  (True/False).
• 6.Recently, a closer planting is practiced in
  grapes with fertigation as against the
  recommended spacing (True/False).

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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TILLAGE AND LAND
MODIFICATIONS FOR GRAPES

• References
• Singh, S.P. 2000. Commercial fruits. Kalyani
  Publishers, Ludhiana.
• Kumar, N. 2000. Introduction to Horticulture.
  Rajalakshmi Publications, Nagarcoil, Tamil Nadu.
• Yellamanda Reddy, T. and G.H. Sankara Reddi.
  2010. Principles of Agronomy. Kalyani Publisher,
  Ludhiana.

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