ON FARM TESTING OF NATU TOBACCO LINE (L 45-90) IN UPPER NORTHERN LIGHT SOIL AREA OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

Tobacco is one of the most economically significant agricultural crops in the world. Natu tobacco is grown in West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Khammam, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Ananthapur, Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh for cheroot and chewing purposes. This tobacco is used in the manufacture of cheaper brands of cigarettes, cheroots, snuff, pipe mixture, cigarette blending, tobacco paste, snuff and hookah paste. It is also blended with Flue-cured Virginia tobacco (FCV) in the manufacture of several brands of cigarettes. On Farm trials were conducted on Natu line, L 45-90 for two crop seasons at two locations of upper NLS, viz., Srivarigudem and Palacherla villages in NLS zone based on purposive random sampling. At Sirivarigudem, the line, L 45-90 recorded 63% bright grade out turn in two consecutive tobacco seasons, whereas the check variety, Kommugudem yielded 55% and 52.7 % bright grade out turn during two seasons. The cured leaf yield of L 45-90 was about 17 to 23% higher than Kommugudem variety. This shows that the Natu variety, L 45-90 can be recommended to farming community.