Indian Spinach

The Indian spinach or Palak `Pusa Bharati’ is superior to `Pusa Jyoti’, the hitherto popular variety. Its cordate-shaped leaves are 25 cm long and 14 cm in breadth. Smooth and tender, the leaves of `Pusa Bharati’ are pure green without any red pigmentation. They may be picked up 30-40 days after sowing for 150-day duration. It is ideally suited for both kharif and summer seasons. Indian spinach or beet leaf (Beta vulgaris var. bengalensis), popularly known as Palak, is a good leafy vegetable. Since very little genetic variability is available in Indian spinach, very meagre improvement work has been done. Therefore a highly promising line S.44-1 was released as `Pusa Bharati’. Palak `Pusa Bharati’: it is superior in vitamin C and beta-carotene contents and market appeal to `Pusa Jyoti’, a popular Indian spinach. `Pusa Bharati flowers 20-25 days later than `Pusa Jyoti’, providing ultimately higher total yield than `Pusa Jyoti’. It is recommended for cultivation in winter and early-spring seasons (October – March) in home or kitchen gardens as well as for commercial cultivation in northern plains of India.

It performs best in winter and early-spring seasons (mid-September – March). It can be grown in summer and kharif seasons also. However, in summer and kharif, the seed stalk emerge after the second cutting and as such only 1 or 2 marketable flushes can be taken. Hence for a regular supply, periodical sowing is recommended from March onwards up to mid-September.

Cultivation:

`Pusa Bharati’ can be grown on a wide range of soils. However, sandy loam or loam soils are best suited. Highly saline soils are also good. After preparing soil, a dose of 10-12 tonnes of well-decomposed farmyard manure may be applied in a hectare at least 2-3 weeks before sowing. Application of 125-130 kg single superphosphate and 75-80 kg potassium sulphate/ha while preparing the soil is beneficial. A dose of urea @ 80-90 kg/ha should be topdressed in 3 split doses, first 25-30 days after sowing, and second and third after first and second pickings of leaves.

About 25-30 kg seed is enough for a hectare,. Sowing should be done in rows 25-30 cm apart. If sowing is done in dry soil, a light irrigation is essential for proper germination. Leaf spot may easily be controlled by spraying of Bavistin @ 2 g/litre of water. Spraying of Malathion or Endosulphat (2 ml/litre) controls aphids. The leaves should not be picked up before one week of spraying.