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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.

South interior: Bengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil Nadu

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 South interior

  • Season

    Cool-season fodder, sown after the north-east monsoon rains ease.4

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

  • Sowing to last picking

    About 90 to 120 days from sowing to the last cut (AI suggestion).

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

  • Sow

    Late October to November4

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

Across India

When to sow it

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

Sow now

The window here is Late October to November.

Sowing now in:Sub-tropical foothillsGangetic plainsNorth-east hills and valleysArid westCentral plateauDeccan plateau
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
South interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot suited hereWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited here
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiSub-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 KarnatakaWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited hereEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot suited here
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
South interiorLate October to NovemberJanuary to February
Temperate HimalayaLate September to OctoberLate March to April, spring cropLate April to early June
Cold desertLate April to MayAugust to early September
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
West coastNot suited here
East coastNot suited here

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Farmyard manure (FYM)4

    15 t per hectare · Spread and work into the soil while preparing the field. · Field preparation, 20 to 30 days before sowing

  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 120

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

Four to five irrigations, counting the one before sowing. Give the first after sowing at 20 to 25 days. Regular water helps the crop tiller. Multicut varieties need seven to eight irrigations in all.4

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 South interior, 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 South interior aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

Watering4

Four to five irrigations, counting the one before sowing. Give the first after sowing at 20 to 25 days. Regular water helps the crop tiller. Multicut varieties need seven to eight irrigations in all.

Weeding4

Winter grass and broadleaf weeds of wheat fields also come up in oats. Run a weeder-cum-mulcher through the rows when the crop is about four weeks old.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Field preparation, 20 to 30 days before sowingFarmyard manure (FYM)15 t per hectareSpread and work into the soil while preparing the field.

Sources4

Varieties and yield

Typical range4

40 to 45 tonnes a hectare

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

Good neighbours2,4

Grows well with

Pests and diseases4

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Aphids (bird cherry aphid)

    Signs

    Colonies of small soft insects on leaves and stems that suck sap and spoil the fodder.

    What to do

    • Spray plain water on the patches where colonies sit to wash them off.

  • Disease

    Leaf blight

    What to do

    • Grow a variety known to tolerate leaf blight.

  • Disease

    Powdery mildew

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 picking4

Oats fit fodder rotations: sorghum with cowpea in kharif, then oats; or maize with cowpea, then oats, then maize with cowpea again.

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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