Disease
Stem rot
Signs · White cottony growth on stems near the ground in cold, humid weeks; plants rot in patches.
Manage · Avoid over-irrigation and waterlogging, rotate crops, and remove rotten patches. Fungicide only on KVK advice.
All crops
Fodder · Fabaceae (pea family)
Berseem
Berseem · बरसीम · Trifolium alexandrinum
The king of winter fodder — cut it five or six times, and it grows back.
Berseem (Egyptian clover) is the main green fodder of North India from December to April. It is soft, protein-rich and boosts milk yield. After each cutting it regrows from the crown, giving 4–6 cuts; the last growth can be left for seed. Being a legume, it also enriches the soil for the next crop.
- Sowing
- 25 Sep – 25 Oct
- Harvest
- 25 Nov – 31 May
- Duration
- 200–230 days
- Yield
- 324–445 q/acre
- 800–1100 q/ha
Flowering (seed crop) · roots shown through the soil
At a glance
Berseem in one look
Sow when days are warm but cooling, around early October. Growth slows in the coldest weeks of December–January and picks up again in February.
Sowing time
25 Sep – 25 Oct
Harvest
25 Nov – 31 May
200–230 days from sowing
Temperature
10–25 °C to grow
20–28 °C at sowing
Soil
Loam to clay loam that holds water well
pH 6.5–8
Seed rate
8.1–10 kg/acre
20–25 kg/ha
Spacing
Broadcast
0–1 cm deep
Irrigations
12–18
7 critical stages
Yield
324–445 q/acre
800–1100 q/ha
Season
AugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJun
Grown most inPunjabHaryanaUttar PradeshBiharRajasthanDelhi
Tolerates mildly alkaline soils and helps improve them; does poorly on acid soils. The field must be well levelled.
Seed to harvest
Watch berseem grow, stage by stage
Scroll through the season. The plant in the glass tank grows to each stage — roots and all — and every card says what the crop is doing and what you should do in the field that week.
Stage 1 of 8
Sowing
Day 0–3
- 1Day 0–3
Sowing
Seed broadcast into standing water settles into the slush.
Your job · Let the water soak in; don't drain the beds.
- 2Day 4–10
Germination
Tiny seed leaves appear across the bed.
Your job · Light irrigation on light soils if the top dries.
- 3Day 11–30
Establishment
Three-leaflet (clover) leaves form; nodules start fixing nitrogen.
Your job · Irrigate every 8–10 days.
- 4Day 31–55
First cut
Soft, leafy growth covers the ground — ready for the first cut at 50–55 days.
Your job · Cut 5–7 cm above ground so the crown regrows; irrigate right after.
- 5Day 56–140
Regrowth & cuts
The crop regrows from the crown after every cut — about 35–40 days apart in winter, 25–30 days from February.
Your job · Take 4–6 cuts; irrigate after each. For seed, take the last cut by early March.
- 6Day 141–175
Flowering (seed crop)
White, round flower heads appear on the uncut regrowth.
Your job · Irrigate; keep bee activity; pull out kasni plants.
- 7Day 176–205
Seed filling
Heads turn from white to brown as seeds fill.
Your job · Watch for caterpillars; last irrigation.
- 8Day 206–225
Seed maturity
Heads dry brown and seeds harden.
Your job · Cut, dry and thresh the seed crop in May.
The seed
Good seed is half the harvest
Use certified seed of a variety bred for your region, at the right rate, and treat it before sowing.
One seed
≈ 2.5 mm
Seed rate
8.1–10 kg/acre
20–25 kg/ha
1000-seed weight
—
Recommended varieties
BL 10PAU; long cutting period, good for seed too.
BL 42PAU; high green fodder yield.
WardanIGFRI Jhansi; widely grown, many cuts.
MescaviOld Egyptian type, still common.
JHB 146IGFRI Jhansi; high-yielding variety.
Seed treatment
- 1Put the seed in water and skim off floating seeds and chicory (kasni) seeds; dry the rest in shade.
- 2Coat with berseem Rhizobium culture just before sowing — essential in a field where berseem was never grown.
- 3Mix 1.5–2 kg/ha of fodder mustard (Chinese cabbage) or some oats with the seed for a heavier first cut.
Field & sowing
Prepare the land, then sow at the right gap and depth
Broadcasting in standing water (wet method)
Layout
Broadcast
Row to row
—
Plant to plant
—
Depth
0–1 cm
Land preparation
- 1Plough 2–3 times and plank to a fine tilth.
- 2Level the field carefully — water standing in low spots rots the crop.
- 3Make beds with bunds for easy flooding.
Sowing, step by step
- 1Make small, well-levelled beds (kyaris).
- 2Flood each bed with about 4–5 cm of water and stir to make slush.
- 3Broadcast the treated seed evenly into the standing water, preferably in the afternoon.
- 4Let the water soak in; do not drain it out.
Feeding the crop
How much fertiliser, and when
These are the standard doses for a medium-fertility field. Your Soil Health Card can raise or lower them — test first, then feed.
Nutrient dose
Nitrogen (N)10 kg/acre · 25 kg/ha
Phosphorus (P₂O₅)30 kg/acre · 75 kg/ha
Potassium (K₂O)0 kg/acre · 0 kg/ha
Plus 10 t/ha (4 t/acre) of well-rotted farmyard manure or compost.
When to apply
- 1All fertiliser at sowing: a small starter dose of nitrogen and full phosphorus.
- 2Phosphorus is the key nutrient — it boosts root nodules and regrowth after cuts.
- 3Potash only if your soil test shows it is low.
Micronutrients, sulphur & biofertilisers
- 1Berseem-specific Rhizobium culture on the seed.
- 2SSP as the phosphorus source also supplies sulphur.
Bags for your field
For 1 acre of Berseem
What to buy
Urea
not needed
DAP
1.5
bags · 66 kg
MOP
not needed
Nutrients in it: N 10 kg · P₂O₅ 30 kg · K₂O 0 kg
Also add farmyard manure or compost: 4 t
- Don't put it all in at once: follow the timing on the Berseem page.
- Your Soil Health Card can raise or lower these amounts. If you have one, follow it.
- Using SSP, NPK complexes or gypsum instead changes these amounts; the nutrient dose is what matters.
Not yet checked against a package of practices. Confirm the dose with your KVK before you buy.
Urea has 46 % N; DAP 18 % N and 46 % P₂O₅; MOP 60 % K₂O. Urea comes in 45 kg bags, DAP and MOP in 50 kg.
Water
12–18 irrigations — never miss the critical ones
A crop forgives a late irrigation at some stages and punishes it at others. These are the days that decide yield.
Day 4
Day 15
Day 52
Day 95
Day 130
Day 160
Day 185
SowingDay 230
Critical irrigations
- Day 4Light irrigation to settle seed (light soils)
- Day 15Establishment
- Day 52After first cut
- Day 95After second cut
- Day 130After third cut
- Day 160Seed crop at flowering
- Day 185Seed filling
Watering tips
- 1Every 8–10 days in October–November, every 12–15 days in December–January, every 8–10 days from February.
- 2Always irrigate soon after each cutting.
- 3Never let water stand for long — stem and root rot follow.
Protection
Weeds, pests and diseases to watch for
Walk the field every week. Most problems are cheap to stop early and expensive to fix late. For any spray, follow the label dose and check with your KVK.
Disease
Root rot
Signs · Plants yellow and wilt; roots rotten.
Manage · Good levelling and drainage; crop rotation.
Pest
Caterpillars on the seed crop
Signs · Green caterpillars eat flower heads and developing seed in March–April.
Manage · Hand-pick where few; spray as per label / your KVK only on the seed crop — never on fodder you will feed.
Disorder
Poor nodulation (pale yellow crop)
Signs · Plants stay pale and stunted; roots show few pink nodules.
Manage · Use Rhizobium culture and enough phosphorus, especially in new fields.
Disorder
Bloat in animals (afara)
Signs · Animals' left side swells after eating large amounts of young, wet berseem.
Manage · Always mix berseem with dry straw (bhusa); don't feed freshly cut wet fodder alone to hungry animals.
Weeds
Common · Chicory (kasni), whose seed looks like berseem seed, and wild grasses
- 1Use clean, kasni-free seed — the water-floating method removes most of it.
- 2Frequent cutting itself keeps most weeds down.
- 3Pull out kasni plants from the seed crop before they flower.
Harvest
Harvest on time, dry it well, store it safe
A good crop gives
324–445q/acre
800–1100 quintal per hectare
Green fodder from all cuts. A seed crop gives roughly 4–6 q/ha of seed.
When is it ready?
- 1Fodder: crop about 40–50 cm tall and leafy — first cut at 50–55 days.
- 2Seed: most flower heads have turned brown and dry.
Harvesting
- 1Cut fodder 5–7 cm above the ground — cutting lower kills the crown.
- 2Take 4–6 cuts from December to April.
- 3Seed crop: cut when heads are brown, dry in the sun and thresh.
After harvest & storage
- 1Feed fresh, mixed with dry straw to prevent bloat.
- 2Surplus can be dried into hay (to about 15–18% moisture) for summer.
- 3Dry seed to about 8–10% moisture before storing.
Golden rules for berseem
- 1Rhizobium culture and phosphorus are the two keys to a strong crop.
- 2Level the field — standing water kills berseem.
- 3Cut at 5–7 cm height, never at the ground.
- 4Use kasni-free seed.
- 5Never feed wet berseem alone; mix with bhusa.