Production technology of tobacco

1. Tobacco
Production Technology

2. Introduction
• Family: Solanaceae
Species
• Cigarette Tobacco: Nicotiana tabacum
• Hukka Tobacco: Nicotiana rustica
Origin in Pakistan
• The origin of tabacco, Emperor akbar introduced tobacco from Europe. Nowadays
tobacco are growing in many part of the country i.e. Peshawar, Charsadda, Swabi, Buner,
Attock, Sialkot, Sahiwal etc

3. Economic Importance
• Important cash crop
• Add a considerable amount to foreign exchange.
• Importance source of employment.
• Contain 0.14% of nicotine and used as insecticides.

4. Production
• Sterilization: It is mostly used to free the soil from diseases and other pathogen in soil i.e.
burning or chemical treatment.
Nursery Preparation
• East west orientation
• Light loamy soil
• Well drained
• Time of Sowing: October to 15 November
• Seed rate: 20-25 g/hac
• Transplantation: Transplanted after 2-3 months.

5. Field preparation and transplantation
• Ploughing: Four to five times ploughing
• Levelling and ridges are made
• Transplantation: February to march
• Fertilizer application rate: N-35 kg/hac P-70 kg/hac
• Irrigation: 8-10 times
• Disease and Pest: Tobacco mosaic, Root rot, Leaf Spot, Cut worms, jassids, aphids, budworm
• Weeding: Manually or mechanically
• Harvesting: May and june
• Yield: 2000-3000 kg/hac

6. Drying and curing
• Curing: Pits are made and buried for 10-15 days for bacterial fermentation.
1. Flue Curing: Harvested leaves are strung on sticks and are artificially heated. The curing process consists of 3 stages.
(i) Yellowing: During yellowing, leaf is kept at a low temperature (32–35°C) and high humidity for about (30–40 hrs) till it
attains a bright lemon yellow colour.
(ii) Fixing colour: After yellowing, the temperature is raised gradually and humidity of barn is lowered by opening the
ventilators with rapid rise in temperature when the leaf is still wet results in a bluish-black discolouration called scalding. It
takes about 16–24 hrs.
(iii) Drying: The ventilators are closed and temperature is again gradually raised to 160°F to dry the veins and mid ribs of
leaves. This takes about 28–42 hrs. Then, ventilators are opened to cool

7. Diseases caused by tobacco
• Mouth cancer
• Heart attack
• Lung cancer
• Yellowing of teeth
• Lip Cancer
• Asthma