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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.

West coast: Kerala, Goa, Konkan, coastal Karnataka, south Gujarat

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Oats want a cool season of about 7 to 24 °C. The west coast stays hot and humid through the year, with no cool winter for the crop to grow in.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
Not suited here

Not a crop for this region

Oats want a cool season of about 7 to 24 °C. The west coast stays hot and humid through the year, with no cool winter for the crop to grow in.

Where it grows nearest

Across India

When to sow it

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

Not suited here

Sowing now in:Sub-tropical foothillsGangetic plainsNorth-east hills and valleysArid westCentral plateauDeccan plateauSouth interior
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
West coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited hereSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot 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 KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot suited here
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
West coastNot suited here
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
South interiorLate October to NovemberJanuary to February
East coastNot suited here

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 West coast, 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 West coast aren't in the library yet.

Good neighbours2,4

Grows well with

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 picking4Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

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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