Celery ranks second in importance amongst salad crops. In India this crop is not commercially as a vegetable crop. Celery as a salad crop is mostly grown in kitchen or home gardens. In colder climate and on the hills. Celery is a biennial plant, while at planes it becomes an annual. It has dark green foliage with less developed stalks and swollen roots.

1. Presented By:
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
Cultivation of Celery

2. Cultivation of Celery
• Botanical Name:
•
• Agium gravealens
•
• Family:
• Umbelliferae/ Apiaceae

3. In colder climate and on the hills
Celery is a biennial plant, while at
planes it becomes an annual.
The celery plant is a hardy biennial,
occasionally annual, widely cultivated for its
fleshy leafstalk used as a vegetable and seeds
which yield essential oil. The seed contains 2 –
3% essential oil and 17 – 18% fatty oil. The
essential oil has d-selenene, sedlanolide and
sedanoic acid anhydride contributing to its
flavour and 60% of d-limonene.
Fig: Head of celery, sold as a vegetable.
Usually only the stalks are eaten.
Fig: Celery seeds

4. Celery, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 16 kcal (67 kJ)
Carbohydrates 3 g
- Sugars 1.4 g
- Dietary fibre 1.6 g
Fat 0.2 g
Protein 0.7 g
Water 95 g
Vitamin A equiv. 22 μg (3%)
Celery is used in weight-loss diets, where it provides low-calorie dietary fibre bulk.

5. The seed is a stimulant and carminative and is used
as a nerve toxin.
 It is used as a remedy for rheumatism.
Seed oil is used for flavorings food items and in the
perfumery and pharmaceutical industries.
Celery is a Mediterranean herb, brought into cultivation in France and
England during sixteenth century. Later, it spread to many parts of temperate Europe
and USA. The crop was introduced in India around 1940 from France for
its seed crop.
The wild form of celery is known as “Smallage”
Fig: Celery seed essential oil in
clear glass vial

6. The crop is cultivated mainly in the states of Punjab (Jallandhar, Gudaspur
and Amritsar districts), Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh (Ladhwa and
Saharanpur districts) over an area of about 5000 ha. About 90% of the total
produce comes from Punjab.
There are green and yellow or self blenching varieties.
Giant Pascal, Emperor of Jeen and Golden Self blanching are popular
varieties.
The varieties recommended by I.A.R.I are “standard bearer and Wright Glove
Grant”.

7. Fig: Giant Pascal
Fig: Golden Self blanching

8. It is a winter (rabi) crop, needs warm days and cool nights, low humidity
and plenty of sun-shine. Generally, cool temperature at sowing and warm dry
weather at seed ripening is ideal. A week long cold spell during mid seasons can
induce bolting and lower seed yield.
Alternatively any rich, friable, well drained and deep soil is good . The crop
thrives well on silt loam to loamy soil with moderate organic matter.
– 6.0 to 6.6 in minerals soil and 5.5 in organic soil.
The seeds are sown from July to September in the nursery bed and
need a partially shady and cool situation.
About 300 to 400 gm of seeds are required for one
hectare

9. The seedlings are transplanted after
about two month.
45 x 15 or 60 X 15 cm

10.  20 to 30 t/ha of FYM at land preparation and 100-150 kg of N/ha (in 3 splits),
P2O5 and K2O
 One-third of N, together with P2O5 and K2O at 40 to 60 kg/ha is basically
applied.
The crop is given irrigation at fortnightly intervals in early part and weekly
nearing seed maturity. Irrigation at CPE (cumulative pan evaporation) 25/50 is
optimum for high seed yield (13q/ ha).
Occasionally late blight disease (causal organism is Septoria apii) and Aphid
(Myzus persicae) attacks the crop.

11. Excluding light from the stalks while the plants are
still growing makes them devoid of chlorophyll and
are known as blanched.
Blanching is done either :-
by wrapping around the leaf stalks
or by earthing up soil as the plants grow.
Blanching is now being discouraged as the
nutritive value is reduced by this process.
The plants are earthed up when they are about 40
cm tall, after removing suckers.

12. The harvest is taken up four to five months after sowing. Each plant is cut
just below the surface with a sharp knife. The plants are then trimmed and
prepared for the market.
The average yield is about 25000 kg/ha.