Fertilizer for Field Crops: Sagarika for Rice, Wheat, Sorghum and Bajra

Rice, wheat, sorghum and bajra are the staple field crops of India. They are grown on large acreage, they are sensitive to input cost, and they depend on a sound nitrogen, phosphorus and potash programme. This page explains how Sagarika fits into that programme: the dose, the spray calendar and the crop by crop guidance for every field crop we cover.

One point is worth making first. Sagarika is a seaweed biostimulant. It is not a fertilizer, and it does not replace the urea, DAP or potash you apply. It works on the plant rather than on the soil, helping the crop take up and use the nutrition you already give it. That is why it is applied alongside your fertilizer, and why the dose below is the same for every crop.

What Is in Sagarika and What It Does for Field Crops

Sagarika Liquid is made from two seaweeds: Kappaphycus alvarezii, a red seaweed, and Sargassum wightii, a brown seaweed. Seaweed extract carries the plant growth regulators auxin, cytokinin and gibberellin along with macro and micronutrients, and the product is registered under the Fertilizer Control Order. Auxin supports root growth, cytokinin supports cell division and gibberellin supports stem and leaf growth.

In a cereal crop, three things decide the yield: how many tillers the plant produces, how many grains each panicle sets, and how well flowering and grain set go. Sagarika is timed to those three stages, which is why the spray calendar below has three sprays.

Sagarika Dose for Field Crops

The dose does not change between rice, wheat, sorghum and bajra. Only the timing changes.

 

At 5.0 ml per litre, 500 ml of Sagarika makes about 100 litres of spray solution, which covers one acre. A 1 litre bottle therefore treats two acres for one spray, and a 5 litre pack treats ten acres for one spray. A full three spray programme on one acre uses 1.5 litres.

Fertilizer for Cereal Crops: The Sagarika Spray Calendar

Cereal crops get three foliar sprays, timed to crop stage. DAS means days after sowing.

 

Apply the basal Sagarika Z++ at sowing, before the first spray. Time each spray by crop stage as well as by date. If your sowing date is early or late, or the season runs ahead of or behind normal, follow the stage rather than the day count. Bajra ripens earlier than the other cereals, so see its section below.

How to Apply Sagarika on Field Crops

1. Fill the sprayer tank about halfway with clean water.

2. Add Sagarika at 5.0 ml per litre of the final volume. For a 15 litre knapsack tank that is 75 ml.

3. Top up with water to the full volume and mix well.

4. Spray in the morning or late afternoon, when it is cool and the wind is low. Cover both sides of the leaves evenly, and avoid spraying just before rain.

5. Mix only what you will spray that day. An acre takes about seven 15 litre tanks.

For seed treatment, mix 2 ml of Sagarika Liquid in 1 litre of water and soak the seed before sowing.

Fertilizer for Field Crops, Crop by Crop

The dose is the same for every crop above. What differs is the stage each spray lands on and the conditions the crop is grown in.

Rice and Paddy

Rice is grown mainly in kharif, with rabi and summer crops in the eastern and southern states, and it is either direct seeded or transplanted. Its yield is built on productive tillers, on the number of grains each panicle sets, and on grain filling. Sagarika's three sprays line up with those stages: 15 to 30 days after sowing for early tillering, 35 to 55 days for panicle initiation, when the number of spikelets on each panicle is set, and 70 to 95 days for heading and flowering. Keep your normal split applications of nitrogen.

Rice is also the field crop with the most Sagarika data behind it, from university trials to farmer reports, summarised under Results below. For the full rice guide, see Best fertilizer for rice and paddy.

Wheat

Wheat is a rabi crop, sown from late October into December across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The first Sagarika spray lands at crown root initiation and early tillering, the second during tillering, and the third at booting and heading. Grain filling follows in the weeks when temperatures begin to climb, and it is short, so the third spray should not be left late.

Sagarika has been tested on rabi wheat over two seasons, 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021. For the full wheat guide, see Best fertilizer for wheat .

Fertilizer for Sorghum (Jowar)

Sorghum, also called jowar, is grown as both a kharif and a rabi crop, mostly on rainfed land in the drier parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Rabi sorghum runs on moisture stored in the soil, and in both seasons moisture is usually the main limit on yield.

Sagarika is used on sorghum at the same 500 ml per acre, mixed at 5.0 ml per litre, on the same three spray calendar as rice and wheat: 15 to 30, 35 to 55 and 70 to 95 days after sowing. Seaweed biostimulants are widely used to support crops through stress such as dry spells, which is why they suit rainfed sorghum. Apply the basal Sagarika Z++ at sowing and keep your normal nitrogen programme.

Fertilizer for Bajra (Pearl Millet)

Bajra, or pearl millet, is a kharif crop of the arid and semi arid belt, grown mainly in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, usually on light soils with low rainfall. It ripens in roughly three months, faster than rice, wheat or sorghum.

Sagarika is used on bajra at the same 500 ml per acre, mixed at 5.0 ml per litre. Make the first spray 15 to 30 days after sowing. Because the crop is short, panicle initiation and heading arrive sooner than the day counts in the main calendar, so time the second and third sprays to those stages and not to the dates. Apply the basal Sagarika Z++ at sowing and keep your normal nitrogen programme.

Using Sagarika Alongside Your NPK Programme

Your base fertilizer programme stays as it is. Apply nitrogen in splits and phosphorus and potash at sowing as your soil test advises, and add Sagarika on top.

Sagarika improves how efficiently the crop uses the nutrition you apply, which is a different job from supplying that nutrition. It is not a substitute for NPK.

One paddy farmer, Subhash Chander, reports halving his chemical fertilizer use after seeing the response, with a 16.7% increase in yield. That is one farmer's account and not a recommendation. If you want to reduce fertilizer, test the change on part of the field first and take advice from your agronomist.

Sagarika Products for Field Crops

 

Most farmers use the granule as a basal dose at sowing and the liquid for the sprays through the season. The two do different jobs and are used together.

Where to Buy Sagarika for Field Crops

Buy Sagarika Liquid in 500 ml, 1 litre and 5 litre packs at shop.sagarika.com  

More Sagarika Crop Guides

See the dose and spray calendar for every crop group on the Sagarika crop guide  [/for-crops], including pulses  [/fertilizer-for-pulses], and commercial crops  [/fertilizer-for-commercial-crops]. For the complete dose across all three application methods, see how to use Sagarika.