Management Activity Pre planting Common cultural practices: Summer deep ploughing to a depth of 30-50 cm Field sanitation, rogueing Avoid water logged conditions in the field Follow crop rotation Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations Nutrient Plough the field 4 – 5 times to get a fine tilth. The soil depth should be at least 30 cm and form ridges, furrows and mounds Nutrients should be applied on the basis of soil test report and recommendation for the particular area Apply 5 to 12.5t/ha FYM and incorporate at the time of ploughing along with P fertilizers if needed based on soil test report . Weed Destroy all the weeds from the plot by deep ploughing during summer Remove all the perennial weeds and their rhizomes/suckers before the onset of monsoon. Planting* Common cultural practices: Use healthy, disease free cassava stem cuttings (setts). Weeding as and when required (Field sanitation) Crop rotation Nutrients General Package of practices recommendation is NPK @100:50:100 kg/ha + FYM @12.5 t/ha. Apply full FYM along with full P at the time of land preparation and planting. Half N and half K within 15 days of sprouting the setts and the remaining half N and K within 45 days of first application Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations. Weeds Weed control ground cover mulch can be used over the mounds/ridges/furrows after first interculture and fertilizer application (45-60 days after planting) Hand weeding twice during 30-45 days and 60-75 days Application of pre emergent herbicide oxyflourfen @ 0.2kg/ha (Either of the above can be adopted) Insect pests and diseases Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices. Cultural control: Use of pests and diseases free planting material Storing the stems in a vertical position under shade. Destroy infested stems Biological control: Incorporate 1kg of Trichoderma enriched .farm yard manure (FYM) per plant ( 107 cfu/g of FYM) Vegetative stage Common cultural practices: Field sanitation ( Frequent weeding), removal of infected/ infested plants Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop (Water requirement is 3mm/day. Provide half to one litre water per plant during summer months. Avoid water logging Judicious use of fertilizers as mentioned above Common mechanical practices: Use yellow sticky traps @ 4-5 trap/acre Common biological practices: Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering Augmentative release of natural enemies Nutrient In general, fertilizers may be applied as mentioned in ( General recommendation of NPK @100:50:100 kg NPK+FYM@12.5 t/ha). NPK based on soil test report of soil organic carbon, soil available P and K. Otherwise, if the N,P,K content of the soil is found high, apply 75% of the POP, if medium, apply the rate as per POP and if low apply 25% more of POP. Apply full P at the time of land preparation Half N and half K within 15 days of sett sprouting Remaining half N and half K within 45 days of first application. If Azospirillum and Phosphobacterium is used, the dose of N and P can be reduced to 50%. They are applied @ 5g each per plant within one week of sprouting the setts. A time gap of 5-10days is given between fertilizer and biofertilizer application. Weed If weed control ground cover mulch (the same sheet can be used for five consecutive seasons) is used, it will take care of the weed management till harvest Other weed control measures as mentioned above also can be adopted Whitefly Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices. Cultural control: Remove alternate host Mechanical control: Use yellow sticky traps @ 4-5 traps / acre Biological methods: Conserve and augment biocontrol agents. Spray 0.5% Neem oil. Red spider mites Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Regular field monitoring for pest and defender population. Use sprinkler irrigation Biological control: Conserve and augment biocontrol agents. Spray 0.5% neem oil formulation (Eg. ICAR-CTCRI developed biopesticide Nanma) . Mealybug Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Monitoring to detect early presence of the mealy bug. Pruning and burning of infested branches. Removal of weeds/alternate host plants .. .Prevention of the movement of ants and destruction of already existing ant colonies. Cleaning of farm implements before moving it to the uninfested crop. Biological control: Conserve and augment biocontrol agents. Scale insects Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Cultural control: Initiate control measures during early stages of pest infestation. Biological control: · Spraying of 0.5% of neem oil formulations. Cassava mosaic disease Using virus free healthy planting material Removal of infected stems left out in the field to avoid source of inoculums Using CMD resistant variety, Sree Padmanabha Brown leaf spot Field sanitation Crop rotation Spraying mancozeb 0.2% after the first appearance of the symptom three times at fortnight interval. Tuber initiation Nutrient In laterite and red soils, MgSO4 @ 20kg/ha, ZnSO4 @ 12.5 kg/ha and Borax @ 10 kg/ha can be applied after 2 months of planting cassava, In saline and calcareous soils of Tamil Nadu, lime induced Fe chlorosis can be corrected by foliar application of 1% ferrous sulphate along with 1% Zinc sulphate Is any S deficiency is noted apply S@10-20 kg/ha S as elemental S or gypsum or use of sulphur containing fertilizers like ammonium sulphate, single super phosphate or potassium sulphate For soil test based application of Mg, Zn and B (see Table 1,2,3) Weed Keep the field weed free. As described above Whitefly Follow common cultural, mechanical, biological methods Termites Follow common cultural, mechanical, biological methods Cultural control: Apply well rotten FYM only to discourage termite infestation. Use of crude oil emulsion to destroy the termite colony in the termatorium. Mechanical control: Dismantle termitaria (termite mounds) around field and kill the termite queen. Biological control: Spray Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) Tuber development stage Cassava tuber rot Removal of infected tubers Deep ploughing with chisel plough Ridge planting Good drainage and controlled irrigation Soil application of neem cake, and Trichoderma viride Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices Note: The dosages of pesticides use are based on high volume sprayer Source: NIPHM, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage