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Bihar rabi maize cultivation Photo: placeholder pending image-fill pass

Bihar rabi maize cultivation

Rabi (winter) maize in Bihar is the highest-yielding maize system in India, with on-farm averages of 7-9 t/ha and irrigated trial yields above 12 t/ha. The crop is sown in October-November, harvested in March-April, and now occupies roughly 0.5 million hectares — chiefly across Begusarai, Khagaria, Samastipur, Bhagalpur, Madhepura, Purnea and Katihar districts. ICAR-IIMR's Pusa regional centre and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA, Pusa) anchor the agronomy.

Why it matters

Bihar shifted out of low-yielding rabi rice and rabi pulses on its eastern alluvial plains because winter days are warm, nights are cool, irrigation from shallow tubewells is cheap, and single-cross hybrids yield exceptionally well under these conditions. The state contributes ~14% of national maize output despite ~6% of area, driven almost entirely by rabi single-cross hybrids feeding starch and poultry industries in Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Key facts

  • Sowing window: 20 October-15 November
  • Harvest: end-March to mid-April; ~160-170 day crop
  • Average on-farm yield: 7-9 t/ha (vs national kharif average ~3 t/ha)
  • Frontier yields: 12-14 t/ha at BISA Pusa
  • Area: ~0.5 mha; ~70% of Bihar's total maize area
  • Major hybrids: DKC-9108, P-3522, NK-6240, DHM-117, HQPM-1

Agronomy

A clean, well-pulverised seedbed after timely harvest of kharif rice is essential. Recommended seed rate is 20-22 kg/ha at 60 × 20 cm. The fertiliser package is 180:80:60 NPK kg/ha plus 25 kg ZnSO4/ha; nitrogen is split into four doses — basal, V4, V8 and tasseling. Five-six irrigations through the season (sowing-CRI, knee-high, tasseling, silking, grain-fill) are standard. The crop benefits from raised-bed planting and zero-tillage rice-residue systems promoted by BISA for water and energy savings.

Pests and diseases

Fall armyworm pressure is comparatively lower in rabi than kharif, but pink stem borer (Sesamia inferens) and post-flowering stalk rots (Macrophomina, Fusarium) appear when soil moisture stress hits during grain-fill. Maydis leaf blight is the main foliar disease; banded leaf and sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani) is increasing under high-density stands. See Fall Armyworm Maize and Maize Faw Spodoptera Frugiperda National.

Post-harvest and market

Rabi maize comes to market in April-May when prices typically firm up before the new kharif crop. The grain is purchased by starch mills (Roquette India at Vidyut Nagar; Bharat Starch) and aggregated for poultry-feed plants in Punjab, Haryana and AP. Maize procurement under MSP (Msp Mechanism Cacp / Msp Minimum Support Price) is thin in Bihar, so private trade and ethanol-grade contracts (Maize Ethanol Feedstock Mol 3G) set the floor. Drying is the principal post-harvest constraint — grain often comes off the cob at 22-28% moisture and must be lowered to 14% within 48-72 hours to avoid aflatoxin.

See also: Maize Crop Overview, Rabi Yaasangi Maize, Hqpm 5 Quality Protein Maize, Maize Faw Spodoptera Frugiperda National, Maize Ethanol Feedstock Mol 3G, Maize Poultry Feed Link India.

Sources

  1. Maize research programme — Bihar rabi maize. Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA). https://bisa.org/research-programmes/maize/
  2. AICRP-Maize annual report 2022-23 — Pusa centre. ICAR-IIMR. https://iimr.icar.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AR-2022-23.pdf