Innovativeness and production practices of Lucerne among the dairy farmers of Maharashtra, India

The extent of innovativeness and existing production practices of fodder Lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) were assessed in the Pune district of Maharashtra, India by randomly selecting two tehsils (blocks) and two villages from each tehsil with the sample of 120 (40 marginal and small, 40 medium and 40 large) farmers. Eighty per cent respondents used Mould Board to plough followed by harrowing for land preparation. Majority of farmers (65.00%) cultivated RL-88 variety of Lucerne. Around 60.83% respondents used 5 to 6 kg seed rate per acre. Broadcast method for sowing the crop was followed by 87.50% respondents. More than three fourth (76.67%) of the respondents took up sowing between month of October and November. Majority of the respondents (69.17% and 75.83%) did not apply herbicides and pesticides whereas, only 30.83% and 24.17% farmers applied herbicides and pesticides, respectively. Around 4–5 tons of Farm Yard Manure per acre was applied by 59.17% respondents. Regarding fertilizer, 54.17 per cent of respondents applied 40 kg N, 15–20 kg P and 15–20 of K per acre. In case of irrigations, 73.33 per cent respondents resorted to 10 to 12 irrigations. Most of the respondents (77.50%) harvested crop at 50 to 55 days. Little over two third (69.17%) of the respondents were found to have medium level of innovativeness. Family education status and extension contact were found to have positive and significant relation with innovativeness of respondents. So, it is important to increase the extent of extension contact of respondents to improve the innovativeness and production practices of Lucerne crop.