1. Carrot

2. Root vegetables include carrots, radish, turnip, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, horse radish and Jerusalem artichoke.
These crops are grown for their enlarged fleshy roots which actually consist of both root and some stem tissues.
These vegetables are short duration and have high productivity.
Best suitable for sequential cropping, intercropping and relay cropping which enables maximum use of arable land.
Botanically they belong to different families but their cultural practices are almost similar.

3. Carrot
Botanical Name: Daucus carota L. Family: Umbelliferae Chromosome No. 2n=18 Origin: South western Asia (Afghanistan)

4. Carrot is a popular cool season crop
Valued as a nutritive food because of high carotene contents.
Used as salad, cooked and in soups and stew preparation etc.
Increases quality of urine and helps elimination of uric acid.
Black carrots are used for the preparation of a soft beverage called Kanji, which is supposed to be a good appetizer.
Red type is good for preparing various types of sweets especially Gajar Halwa in northern India.
Carrot seed oil is used for flavouring liquors & all kind of food substitutes.
Carrot seeds are aromatic, stimulant and carminative

5. Pusa Kesar Pusa Yamdagini Pusa Meghali Jeno Sel-333 Imperator No. 29
Asiatic or tropical type
European or Temperate Type Varieties
Produce seeds in plains.
Do not require any low temperature treatment for flowering.
Long and red coloured roots with white or creamy core.
Rich in lycopene
Requires chilling (4.8-10oC) for flowering, resulting its cultivation to hills.
Medium and orange coloured roots with centre core.
Rich in carotene
Pusa Kesar
Pusa Yamdagini
Pusa Meghali
Jeno
Sel-333
Imperator
No. 29
Chantaney
Hisar Gairic
Danvers
Early Nantes
Nantes
Nantes Half Long
Ooty

6. Varieties recommended for Himachal Pradesh
Asiatic or tropical type
European Type or Temperate Type Varieties
Pusa Kesar
Pusa Ashita
Pusa Rudhira
Nantes
Chantney
Pusa Yamdagini

8. New recent release
Pusa Rudhira
Pusa Asita

10. Pigment power being converted into nutrient rich varietal wealth

11. Classification of roots on the basis of shape
1. Long rooted: 25 cm or more in length, generally tapering.
2. Half-long rooted: Does not exceed 20 cm.
Roots cylindrical with straight or sloppy shoulder e.g. Nantes
Roots tapering with blunt or semi-blunt type e.g. Chanteney or Imperator.
3. Short-stump rooted : These are suitable for growing in heavy soils.
Heart shaped: e.g. Oxheart.
Oval: Early Scarlet Horn.
Round: French Forcing.

12. Soils
Carrots prefer deep, loose, well drained, sandy loams or loam soil with a slightly acidic reaction.
The edible roots may become misshapened as a result of poor soil structure or obstructions such as stones, clods or trash
Heavy soils likely to produce abundant leaf growth and forked roots. The roots tend to be more rough and coarse
The optimum soil pH is
The soil should be thoroughly pulverized to obtain a fine tilth otherwise it results in deformed roots

13. Climate It is predominantly a cool season crop.
A temperature range of 7.2 to 23.9 oC is suitable for seed germination and 18.3 to 23.9 oC for better root growth.
The optimum temperature for better colour development of roots is oC.
High temperature results into early bolting though Asiatic types are resistant to some extent.
Asiatic types produce seed freely under tropical conditions of the plains.
Temperate types require low temperature (4.8 –10oC ) for 4-6 weeks at any time during development of roots or after maturation either in storage or field conditions for seed production.
The seeds of European types are produced only in hills.

14. Sowing Time Seed Rate 8-10 kg/ha North Indian plains
Middle of August- beginning of December
Himachal Pradesh
Low Hills
August-September
Mid Hills
July – September
High Hills
March- July
Seed Rate
8-10 kg/ha
Seeds are to be mixed with fine sand before sowing to facilitate even distribution.
The seeds should be rubbed to remove the fine hairs before sowing.
To remove the inhibitor present in the seeds, soaking of seed in water at 20 oC for 24 hours and then drying at 20 oC has given encouraging results of seed germination.

15. The seed should be sown at a depth of 1-1.5cm deep on the ridges
Spacing
30cm X 8-10cm
The seed should be sown at a depth of 1-1.5cm deep on the ridges
After germination maintain the distance of 8-10cm between the plants with in row by following thinning of plants.

16. Manures and Fertilizers
Open pollinated varieties
Farmyard manure (q/ha) N
P2O5
K2 O
(Kg/ha)
100 50 40
Full dose of farmyard manure, P, K and half of N should be applied at the time of transplanting.
Remaining part of N should be top dressed in two equal installments at an interval of one month each.
Excess of N affects the root quality like sugar, dry matter, carotene and vitamin C

17. Interculture and weed control
Carrots grow slowly at the seedling stage, so removal of weeds is quite essential especially at earlier stage.
For effective weed control, a pre-emergence application of 1.12 kg of propazine has to be done.
Earthing up is also essential for better growth and development of roots.

18. Irrigation
A pre-sowing irrigation is to be given to help the seeds absorb moisture and germinate properly.
Carrots require an abundant and well distributed water supply.
Dry weather followed by wet weather is conducive to cracking of roots.
Carrots should be irrigated before any wilting of leaves takes place.
It should not be irrigated heavily as it results in excessive foliage growth, poor quality roots and delayed maturity.

19. Harvesting Yield Asiatic types: 250-300 q/ha
For fresh market, harvest carrots before plants reach full maturity in order to assure quality,
For processing, allow roots to grow longer in the season to maximize yield.
For fresh market, smaller, tender, milder in flavour and uniform in appearance are to be harvested for getting good returns.
The common Asiatic varieties attain the marketable stage at cm dia at the upper end.
A light irrigation before 2-3 days of harvesting is to be given to facilitate the pulling of the roots from the soil without any damage.
Roots harvested with top are called bunch carrot while those without the tops are called bulk carrots.
Most carrots for fresh market are now topped which greatly reduces water loss from the roots and increases storage life.
Yield
Asiatic types: q/ha
European Types: q/ha

21. Post Harvest Handling
Roots are washed clean, graded and tied in bunches of 6 or 12 roots after harvesting.
Fresh carrots can be stored for more than 3-4 days under ordinary conditions.
At temperature oC with % RH, roots can be stored for 3-4 months.
Under cold storage at 32 oF with high humidity (98-100%),
mature topped carrots can be stored upto 7-9 months
immature usually not more than 2-3 weeks

22. PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS

23. 1. Root splitting
Splitting or cracking of carrot roots is a major problem.
Generally controlled by genic factors.
Number of other factors may also be involved.
Possible Reasons
Wider spacing as larger roots tend to split more
Dry weather followed by wet weather is conducive to cracking of roots.
Increases as the amount of N in the soil increases & high soil concentration of ammonium compounds cause more serious splitting than other forms of N.
Increased by chlorides and reduced by low N
Early cultivars tend to split more readily than late ones.

24. 2. Cavity spot Possible Reasons
It appears as a cavity in the cortex.
Possible Reasons
Ca deficiency, associated with an increased accumulation of K and decreased accumulation of Ca
Increase in Ca level in the growing medium results in increased Ca accumulation in the plant and a significant reduction in the incidence of cavity spot.

25. 3. Forking Excess moisture during the root development
A common disorder in carrot and radish formed by the enlargement of secondary root growth
Possible Reasons
Excess moisture during the root development
It occurs also in heavy soils due to soil compactness.
Management
Balanced irrigation.
Sandy loam & light soils are preferred for sowing (loose & friable)

26. Diseases (not very serious problem)
Leaf blight.
Leaf spot or cercospora blight: proper drainage.
Powdery mildew.
Watery soft rot.
Black rot.
Bacterial soft rot.

27. Insects (not very serious problem)
Rust fly-Apply malathion 5% or Folidol 2%
Turnip moth-Spray 0.05%