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Fodder Crops · Fodder

Growing fodder oats

Avena sativa · also called jaiOats grown for green fodder, cut once or several times through the cool season and fed fresh, as silage or as hay. A rabi fodder of the plains and a cool-season fodder in the hills.

Cold desert: Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
A green oat crop at the edge of a field, with young panicles on upright stems
Photo: W.carter · CC0

At a glance

Fodder oats in the Cold desert

  • Season

    Summer fodder, sown once the snow has gone and cut before the autumn cold.

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sowing to last picking

    About 90 to 110 days from sowing to the cut in the short summer.

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sow

    Late April to May

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Wait until April

The next sowing here is Late April to May.

Sowing now in:Sub-tropical foothillsGangetic plainsNorth-east hills and valleysArid westCentral plateauDeccan plateauSouth interior
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
Cold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, Dehradun
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited hereEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot suited here
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Cold desertLate April to MayAugust to early September
Temperate HimalayaLate September to OctoberLate March to April, spring cropLate April to early June
Sub-tropical foothillsMid-October to the first week of NovemberLate December to March
North-west plainsSecond to last week of OctoberSecond half of November, for a seed cropLate December to early March
Gangetic plainsLate October to NovemberJanuary to early March
North-east hills and valleysLate October to NovemberJanuary to March
Arid westLate October to early NovemberJanuary to early March
Central plateauLate October to early NovemberJanuary to early March
Deccan plateauOctober to NovemberLate December to February
South interiorLate October to NovemberJanuary to February
West coastNot suited here
East coastNot suited here

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well-rotted farmyard manure or compostNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    10 t per hectare · Work into the soil before sowing. · Field preparation

  2. Day 0

    Sow

  3. Day 7 to 10

    Seeds come up1,2,4,5Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

  4. Day 90 to 110

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water from the kuhl after sowing and then about every 10 to 12 days; the dry air and sandy soils lose water fast.No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1,2,4

    6 to 7

    Grows on most soils except waterlogged, alkaline or strongly saline land. Loam and clay loam suit it in Jammu; the national guide favours well-drained sandy loam and loam.

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    At least 6 hours a day

    Full sun in open fields.

  • Temperature1,2,4Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

    Grows best at 7 to 24 °C

    Takes light frost.

    Monthly temperatures for the Cold desert aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

WateringNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water from the kuhl after sowing and then about every 10 to 12 days; the dry air and sandy soils lose water fast.

WeedingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

One hand weeding about three to four weeks after sowing, while the crop is small.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Field preparationWell-rotted farmyard manure or compost10 t per hectareWork into the soil before sowing.

SourcesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Varieties and yield

Typical rangeNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

20 to 30 tonnes a hectare

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Good neighbours2,4

Grows well with

Pests and diseasesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Aphids

    What to do

    • Wash colonies off with a strong water spray.
    • Leave ladybird beetles and hoverflies to feed on them.

  • Disease

    Smut

    What to do

    • Sow clean seed saved from a healthy crop.
    • Pull out and burn smutted heads.

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed2Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

For seed, sow in the second half of November at 15 kg an acre in rows 30 cm apart. A crop sown before 15 November can give one fodder cut at 65 to 70 days and then be left for seed.

When the seed is ready

Harvest when the panicles turn straw yellow and the grain is hard (AI suggestion).

Dry the seed well and store it in clean, closed bags away from damp and pests (AI suggestion). Pull out and destroy any smutted heads in the seed crop.

After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Plough the stubble in after the cut, or graze it before the ground freezes.

Stubble left after the last cut can be grazed or ploughed in before the next crop (AI suggestion).

Rotation

Oats follow sorghum or maize grown with cowpea in kharif, or come straight after rice.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 1Package of Practices for Rabi Crops 2020: OatsDirectorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
  2. 4Oats (Avena sativa): a potential winter fodder crop for better livestock production (Indian Farming 75(09), 2025)ICAR (Indian Farming); authors at ICAR-IGFRI, JhansiRead the source

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