District Level Crop Weather Calendars of

Major Crops in India

V.U.M. Rao, A.V.M. Subba Rao, M.A. Sarath Chandran, Prabhjyot Kaur,
P. Vijaya Kumar, B. Bapuji Rao, I.R. Khandgonda and Ch.Srinivasa Rao

All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology

ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
Santoshnagar, Hyderabad – 500059
District Level Crop Weather Calendars of
Major Crops in India

V.U.M. Rao, A.V.M. Subba Rao, M.A. Sarath Chandran, Prabhjyot Kaur,
P. Vijaya Kumar, B. Bapuji Rao, I.R. Khandgonda and Ch.Srinivasa Rao

All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology

ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
Santoshnagar, Hyderabad – 500059
Citation: V.U.M. Rao, A.V.M. Subba Rao, M.A. Sarath Chandran, Prabhjyot Kaur, P.Vijaya Kumar, B.
Bapuji Rao, I.R. Khandgond and Ch.Srinivasa Rao. (2015). District Level Crop Weather Calendars of
Major Crops in India. Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad – 500 059, 40 pp.

© 2015, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (ICAR)

Copies: 300

Published by
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 Acknowledgements
Occurrence of unseasonal rainfall and extreme weather events like drought, heavy rainfall, hailstorms, flash
floods, heat waves are on the rise. Comprehensive recommendations in the form of agromet advisories or
crop contingency plans are the need of the hour. We hope this document will facilitate for preparation of
site specific Agromet advisory bulletins, crop contingency plans and also for persons working in weather
based crop insurance for identifying critical stages and for fixing threshold values.
Authors are grateful to Dr AK Sikka, Deputy Director General, NRM for his keen interest in addressing
the threats posed by extreme weather events and for his constant support and guidance in bringing out
this publication.
Field experiment data generated since the inception of the project was utilized in the preparation of
location specific crop weather calendars. We express our deep sense of gratitude to the scientists and staff
of AICRPAM cooperating centers in bringing out the crop calendar for major crop of their respective
centers. We thank our research staff namely P. Santhibhushan Chowdary, V.M. Sandeep, V.P. Pramod,
V. Narasimha Rao, P. Pani and O Bhavani for the help rendered in completing the task within stipulated
time. We place on record the secretarial assistance rendered by D. Harini and A. Mallesh Yadav in the
compilation.

AUTHORS
 Contents
Particular Page No.
Introduction 1
Data and Methodology 2
Rice 5
Wheat 12
Groundnut 19
Rabi Sorghum 21
Soybean 24
Mustard 26
Maize 28
Cotton 29
Chickpea 30
Conclusions 31
Crop Weather Calendars for
improved Agromet Advisory Services in India
1. Introduction
Weather is one of the most important factors affecting the agricultural production. The increase in climatic
variability and associated extreme weather episodes such as erratic rainfall distribution, abrupt change in day
and night temperatures during crop season and sudden outbreaks in pest disease population, especially in
developing countries, are throwing challenges to sustaining production levels of different crops. One strategy
that farmers can adopt to sustain or increase crop yields in the face of a highly variable climate is to manipulate
the crop environment through improved management strategies for adaptation.
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors for India. Proper planning for this sector requires relevant and
reliable information in timely manner. Information on crop, its stages and the week by week weather during the
crop season is essential for proper management of agriculture. Thus, farm operations planned in conjunction
with weather information are very likely to curtail the costs of inputs and various field operations. Crop weather
calendar is a comprehensive guide for farmers. It is a tool that provides information on average weather of
every week, planting, sowing and harvesting periods of locally adapted crops in a specific agro-ecological zone.
Further, stage-wise pest disease infestation information can also be added.
It also provides information on the sowing rates of seed and planting material and the main agricultural
practices. This tool supports farmers and agriculture extentionists in taking appropriate decisions on crops and
their sowing period, respecting the agro- ecological dimension. It also provides a solid base for emergency/
contingency planning of the rehabilitation of farming systems after disasters.
The concept of using crop-weather calendar is not new. For instance, FAO calendars provide information on the
crop sowing and harvesting dates, seed rate, operation timings of mechanical equipment in the period etc. Also,
the University of Kentucky prepared production calendars for soybean and maize crops. This calendar describes
the month wise weather and operations to be taken up during the period.

Crop weather calendars by IMD in operation

IMD prepared district-wise crop-weather calendars almost two decades ago using normal weather, crop water
requirement for major cereals, pulses and oilseed crops. Later IMD has revised these by incorporating present
cropping patterns, soil types and conditions favorable for development of pests and diseases.
Information provided in the calendars give broad indications of the progress of growth of the crop along
with climate direction of development which may prove useful to the planners, agricultural administrators, plant
breeders and the farmers in the formulating policy matters regarding plant breeding, crop adoption, drought
proofing, supplemental irrigation, maximising the yield etc.

Crop weather calendars designed by All India Coordinated Research Project

on Agrometeorology
AICRPAM has 25 co-operating centres operating in all the states of India carrying out research (agroclimatic
characterization, crop weather relationships, crop growth modeling and inf luence of weather on pests and
disease development) and extension activities (agromet advisory services). A wealth of experimental data on
crop phenology and daily meteorological conditions have been archived in different crops for more than 30 years.
These data were used in the designing of location specific crop-weather calendars with an intent to improve the
agromet advisory services.

1
2. Data and Methodology
Climatic data requirement
Weekly climatic normal for standard meteorological weeks for each location were computed for all the 25
AICRPAM centers. These normal meteorological data sets were arranged in a weekly format for the cropping
season from the month of sowing till the harvest of the crop in question.

Information on crop phenology

Crop phenological information collected from sowing to maturity is arranged on a weekly basis. Important
‘phases’ like sowing, germination / emergence, transplanting (in case of rice), vegetative growth, f lowering,
grain formation and maturity are tabulated as per the Standard Meteorological Weeks. Further, information on
the favourable meteorological conditions for the crop (stage-wise or whole crop growth period) which lead to
high yield were deduced from the long-term experimental data and tabulated.

Information on pest and diseases

The data on weather conditions favourable for incidence of pests and diseases and the nature of the weather
warnings were collected.
Structure of crop weather calendar designed by AICRPAM consists of three parts in the main body as depicted
in the Figure 1. Climatic normals for location specific crop growing season is presented in the upper portion.
Phenological events of the crop are represented in a weekly time frame in the middle portion together with
favorable climatic parameters to realize potential or optimum yield. On the lower part of the calendar, the
favourable weather conditions for development of pests and diseases are reported. The components of each part
of the calendar are discussed here under.

Figure.1: Structure of crop weather calendar

Part I - Climatic normals

These climatic normals of each centre computed for total weekly rainfall (mm), number of rainy days,
evaporation (mm), weekly maximum temperature (oC), minimum temperature (oC), mean temperature (oC),
sunshine hours (hours), solar radiation, maximum relative humidity (%), minimum relative humidity (%), mean
relative humidity (%), wind speed (Km/hr) and wind direction (degree) arranged in standard meteorological
week wise in the upper portion of crop weather calendar as per the above Proforma. An example of arranged
climate normal for Ludhiana centre is depicted as Figure 2.

2
 Figure.2: Top portion of crop weather calendar of rice crop containing climatic normals

Part-II Phenological observations and Climatic normal for high yield of crops
Collect the pictures of individual stage of each crop and arrange in such a way that the stage wise figure should
adjust to the week of start of that stage to end of Stage wise climatic normals for high productivity of the crop
in a location will be computed based on a simple procedure. Select the best 3 high productivity years of a crop
from minimum 10 years of continuous field experiment data. growth stage wise meteorological normals will be
computed and arranged for the selected high productivity years. Then arrange the range of each parameter for
individual stage. The arrangement is shown in the Figure .3.

Figure.3: Middle portion of crop weather calendar containing phenological stages and climatic normal for high yield

3
Part-III Climatic normal favourable for incidence of major pest of rice crop
The Crop-Weather-Pest and Disease calendars comes as bottom part of the calendar which contain the climatic
normals required for major pest or diseases of the crop as well as susceptible crop phenological stages. Thus if
the climatic conditions are favourable and the pathogen is present, there are chances of occurrence of the pest
and disease (Figure 4).

Figure.4: Bottom portion of crop weather calendar containing climatic normal favourable for incidence of major pest of rice crop

Information of Crop wise CWC from

These crop-weather-pest and disease calendars act as
AICRPAM centers
a guiding tool while issuing Agromet-advisory for the
Name of the Center Crops
farmers of the region. These calendars can also be used
Faizabad Chickpea
for advising the farmers for need based spraying of the
Parbhani Cotton
insecticides and pesticides Anantapur Groundnut
All the 25 cooperating centers of AICRPAM have prepared Bangalore Groundnut
location wise crop weather calendar for major mandatory Jammu Maize
crop of their region and the list of crops and centers is Hisar Mustard
provided in the side table; Mohanpur Mustard
Bijapur Rabi Sorghum
Kovilpatti Rabi Sorghum
Solapur Rabi Sorghum
Bhubaneswar Rice
Dapoli Rice
Jorhat Rice
Kanpur Rice
Samathipur Rice
Thrissur Rice
Ludhiana Rice and Wheat
Ranchi Rice and Wheat
Akola Soybean
Jabalpur Soybean
Anand Wheat
Palampur Wheat
Raipur Wheat
Udaipur Wheat

4
 Crop weather calendar of Rice - Bhubaneswar
Crop weather calendar of rice crop for different locations viz., Bhubaneswar, Jorhat, Dapoli, Kanpur, Samasthipur,
Ranchi and Thrissur are presented here. The crop is grown in varied soils and landscape and ecosystems.

Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Bhubaneswar is situated in eastern ghats of Odisha state with a climate classified as hot moist sub-humid eco-
sub region (ESR) with medium to deep loamy Red and Lateritic soils, medium available water holding capacity
(AWHC) and a length of growing period (LGP) of 180-210 days. Rice is the major crop in this region. The crop
calendar is developed for medium duration rice crop.

5
 Crop weather calendar of Rice – Jorhat, Assam
Jorhat is situated in Upper Brahmaputra plain of Assam having climate of warm to hot per humid ESR with moderately deep to deep loamy,
alluvium-derived soils, medium AWHC and LGP >300 days. The crop weather calendar has been prepared for the long duration rice crop
grown in the region.

6
7
Crop weather calendar of Rice – Dapoli, Maharashtra
Dapoli is situated in hot moist sub-humid to humid transitional ESR climate of Maharashtra with deep loamy to clayey red and lateritic
soils, low to medium AWHC and LGP of 210-270 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Rice – Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Kanpur is situated in the hot moist semi-arid ESR of Uttar Pradesh with deep loamy alluvium-derived soils, medium to high AWHC and
LGP of 120-150 days. Rice is the major crop in Kharif season.

8
9
Crop weather calendar of Rice – Samasthipur, Bihar
Samasthipur is situated in North Bihar and avdh plains of Bihar having the climate classified as hot dry to moist sub- humid ESR with
deep, loamy alluvium-derived soils, low to medium AWHC and LGP of 180-210 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Rice – Ranchi, Jharkhand
Ranchi is situated in the Chota Nagpur plateau and Garjat hills with climate hot dry sub-humid ESR with moderately deep to deep,
loamy to clayey, red and lateritic soils, medium AWHC and LGP of 150-180 days.

10
11
Crop weather calendar of Rice – Thrissur, Kerala
Thrissur is located in the hot humid to per humid transitional ESR in Kerala state with deep, clayey to loamy, acidic, coastal alluvium-
derived soils, low AWHC and LGP 240-270 days.
13
Crop weather calendar of wheat – Ludhiana, Punjab
Ludhiana is situated in hot semi-arid ESR of Punjab state with deep loamy alluvium-derived soils medium AWHC and LGP
of 90-120 days. This crop weather calendar is prepared for medium to long duration wheat crop.
 Crop weather calendar of wheat- Anand, Gujarat
Anand in Gujarat located in hot moist semi-arid ESR with medium and deep clayey black soils, medium to high AWHC and
LGP of 120 -150 days. Wheat is major crop in rabi season.

14
15
Crop weather calendar of wheat- Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
Palampur is situated in Himachal Pradesh with warm humid to per humid transitional ESR and shallow to medium deep loamy brown
forest and podzolic soils, low to medium AWHC and LGP of 270-300 days.
 Crop weather calendar of wheat- Raipur, Chattisgarh
Raipur in Chhattisgarh state is located in Moderately to gently sloping Chhattisgarh / Mahanadi basin with climate of hot moist/dry sub
humid transitional ESR with deep loamy to clayey red and yellow soils, medium AWHC, LGP 150-180 days.

16
17
Crop weather calendar of wheat-Udaipur, Rajasthan
Udaipur is situated in hot dry semi-arid ESR with deep loamy gray brown and alluvium derived soils, mediumAWHC and LGP 90
-120 dayss.
19
Crop weather calendar of Groundnut – Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Anantapur comes under hot arid ESR with deep loamy and clayey mixed red and balck soils having low to mediumAWHC and a LGP of
60-90 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Groundnut- Bangalore
Bangalore comes under Central Karnataka plateau with hot-moist semi-arid ESR and have medium to deep red loamy soils, low AWHC
and LGP of 120 -150 days.

20
 It is located in Karnataka plateau, hot arid ESR. Dominant soil textures are deep loamy and clayey mixed red and black soils. AWHC is
                            

Crop: Sorghu
um (Rabbi) Duraation: M
Medium
m (120-125 dayys) Statte: Karrnatak
ka Disstrict: Vijayap
V pura
Std Septem
mber O
October Novemb
ber Decem
mber Jaanuary February
Week
Parameeter 38 39 400 41 42 43 444 45 46 4
47 48 49 50 51 5
52 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Tmaxx (°C ) 30 30 311 32 29 30 300 30 30 3

31 29 30 30 29 2
28 31 31 30 3
32 29 32 335

Tmin
n (°C ) 20 21 222 22 20 20 199 18 17 1
16 16 14 14 13 1
13 155 14 15 1
15 16 17 117
low to medium and LGP ranges from 60-90 days. Crop weather calendar prepared for rabi sorghum is presented below.

Climatic normals

RHm
m (%) 81 84 833 82 82 81 755 77 76 7
78 75 72 75 71 7
72 799 76 74 7
72 70 70 667

RHee (%) 51 52 533 52 53 51 466 46 46 4

46 41 37 40 38 3
36 477 47 43 4
41 41 36 337

WS(k
kmph) 11 11 10
0 8 4 6 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 4 5 6 8
W
WD NW N
NE W NE N W N NW NW N NW
W N N NW
N W NE
E NE E E SE E N

BSS (h
hr/day) 4 8 5 7 9 4 9 8 9 9 7 8 10 10 9 8 9 10 9 9 9 9
Raain
32 45 499 40 24 14 7 5 7 4 1 3 1 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 2 1
(mm//week)
Evvap
(mm//week) 28 36 28
8 30 28 20 21
1 23 24 2
24 21 24 29 26 2
25 31 33 36 3
36 40 42 4
48
Rainyy days 2 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Crop weather calendar of Rabi Sorghum – Bijapur, Karnataka

Seeddling
Paniccle
Ph
henophasee estab
blish Vegetaative Flowerinng Grain
n developmment Maturity
M
initiattion
Duraation (dayys) meent (20-225) (8-10) (35-40) (20-25)
(8-10)
(8-10)
Tm
max (°C ) 29 -32 29- 331 30-332 29-31 29-31 29-30
weather

Tm
min (°C ) 17 - 21 16- 119 11-117 9-19 10-16 11-13

RH
Hm (%) 81 - 91 81 - 994 70 - 90 71 - 90 77 - 92 56 - 88
congenial

RH
He (%) 42 - 68 34 - 660 27 - 47
4 32 - 58 29 - 47 25 - 40
for better yield
g

W
WS (kmph
h) - - - - - -

W
WD - - - - - -
Phenophase-wise

BS
SS (hr/daay) 3--9 6-100 9-10 8-10 8-10 8-10

S Rad (MJJ/m2/day)

Rain (mm//week) 0 - 196 3 - 222 0 - 22

2 0 0 0
p

Evvap (mm//week) - - - - - -

Rainy dayss - - - 0 0 0

Shooot fly Tmaxx 28- 300C, RHm > 80

weather for
pest/disease incidence

Stem borer max. 27-3220C, RHee <60%

Tm
Congential
g

n. 10-120C,
Tmin C RH- 60%
Aph
hids

          
 

21
 Crop weather calendar of Rabi Sorghum – Kovilpatti, Tamilnadu
Kovilpatti is located in uplands of Tamilnadu and leeward flanks of south sahyadris. It comes under hot, dry semi-arid ESR with
moderately deep to deep, loamy to clayey , mixed red and black soils. AWHC of the region is medium and LGP ranges from 90-120 days.

22
23
Crop weather calendar of Rabi Sorghum– Solapur, Maharashtra
Solapur is located in south western Maharashtra having hot dry semi-arid ESR with shallow and medium loamy black soils. AWHC is
medium to high and LGP ranges from 30-120 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Soybean– Akola, Maharashtra
Akola is located in Eastern Maharashtra Plateau, hot moist semi-arid ESR with medium and deep clayey black soils (shallow loamy to
clayey black soils as inclusion), medium to high AWC and LGP 120 -150 day.

24
25
Crop weather calendar of Soybean– Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
Jabalpur has hot dry sub-humid ESR with medium and deep clayey black soils(shallow loamy black soils as inclusion), high AWHC and
LGP ranges from 150-180 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Mustard– Hisar, Haryana
Hisar comes under hot typic-arid ESR with deep loamy desert soils and low AWHC and LGP ranges from 60-90 days.

26
27
Crop weather calendar of Mustard– Mohanpur, West Bengal
Mohanpur comes under hot moist sub-humid ESR with deep loamy to clayey alluvium-derived soils, medium to high AWHC and LGP
ranges from 210-240 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Maize – Jammu
It comes under warm moist to dry sub-humid transitional ESR with medium to deep loam to clayey brown forest and podzolic soils
medium AWC and LGP ranges from 150-210 days.

28
29
Crop weather calendar of Cotton– Parbhani
Parbhani is located in Marathwada region of Maharashtra and comes under hot moist semi-arid ESR with shallow and medium loamy
clayey black soils. AWHC is medium to high and LGP ranges from 120-150 days.
 Crop weather calendar of Chickpea– Faizabad
Faizabad is located in eastern Uttar Pradesh and comes under hot dry sub-humid ESR with deep loamy alluvium-derived soils. AWHC
is medium to high and LGP ranges from 150 -180 days.

30
3. Conclusion
Crop weather calendars are excellent examples of the type of compiled information that can assist forecasters
in framing weather warnings and forecasts directed at farmers.The All India Coordinated Research Projecton
Agrometeorology has developed 26 district level crop weather calendars (CWC) for important crops viz., rice,
wheat, groundnut, soybean, maize, mustard, rabi sorghum, cotton and chick pea in 22 states. With proper
guidance as services provided by agricultural meteorologists, these calendars will also be of much interest to
the agricultural professionals and to the various government departments concerned with Agriculture and
Food Production, as well as educationally to the general public. Most importantly, it will be a worthy tool
for preparation of crop contingency plans and identifying the growth stage specific thresholds for designing
weather based crop insurance products.

31
References
• Prabhjyot Kaur, Ashu Bala, Harpreet Singh and Sandhu SS. (2013). Guidelines to prepare crop weather
calendar. AllIndia Coordinated Research Projecton Agrometeorology. School of climate change and
agricultural meteorology. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. 18p.
• William J. Sacks, Delphine Deryng, Jonathan A. Foley and Navin Ramankutty (2010). Crop planting dates:
ananalysis of global patterns. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 19, 607–620
• http://www.fao.org/agriculture/seed/cropcalendar/welcome.do
• Major World Crop Areas and Climatic Profiles (1994). World Agricultural
• Out look Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Hand book No. 664. pp. 293
• Corn and Soybean Production Calendar (2007). Cooperative extension service, university of Kentucky
College of Agriculture, Lexington, KY, 40546
• http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id159/id159.pdf
 Capacity enhancement program conducted for scientist of cooperating centers during 3-12 Feb, 2015 at CRIDA, Hyderabad

Capacity enhancement program conducted for scientist of cooperating centers during 28 July-6 Aug, 2015 at CRIDA, Hyderabad
 AICRPAM Network

All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology

ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
Santoshnagar, Hyderabad – 500059