Sowing time for sesamum

The crop can be grown all the year round. Mostly three sowing times are recommended:

1. kharif season crop occupies about 70% of the total area under this crop. Sowing is done during last week of June to first week of July, when atmospheric temperature is about 25-27⁰ C in North India, while in north India sowing time may very from May to July.
2. Seml-rabi crop occupies 20% of the area in the states of Gujarat and Orissa. The sowing for this crop is done from Aug - Oct.
3. Summer crop which occupies only 10% of area in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa, sowing takes place during Dec - Jan.

Optimum sowing time for sesamum

Sl.No.	State	Time of sowing
1	Andhra Pradeh	First fortnight of May (kharif), second fortnight of July (semi rabi) and second fortnight of January (summer).
2	Gujarat	Last week of June for kharif crop, mid-August for semi-rabi crop and early summer crop.
3	Maharastra	Second fortnight of June to first week of July (Kharif)
4	Rajasthan	Second fornght of June to first week of July (kharif)
5	Orissa	June-July (kharif) Sept-Oct (rabi) and Feb-March (summer)
6	Tamil Nadu	July-Aughust (kharif), Nov (semi-rabi) and Feb-March (summer)
7	Uttar Pradesh	Second fortnight of July
8	Punjab & Haryana	Second fortnight of July
9	West Bengal	End of May to first week of June (kharif)
10	Karnataka	June-July (kharif)

Method of sowing

A shallow sowing to the depth of 2 -3cm, in lines 45 cm apart with 15 cm space between plants is the recommended method of sowing. Growers in Maharashtra and Gujarat usually use line -sowing method. But in other states, the crop is sown by broad- casting seed. In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, most of the farmers make a few lines as intercrop in the field of jowar, bajra, cotton, etc.