Earthing up consists of lifting up or shifting the soil from the central portion of the space between rows towards the base of plants so as to cover the plant base or certain plant organs grown from below or at the soil surface. Earthing up may be done both under wet and dry conditions of soil.
Objectives
- To make better root anchorage.
- To prevent lodging.
- To cover stolons and rhizomes in some crops.
Advantages
- Earthing up creates ridges and furrows in the crop field which later on serves the purpose of irrigation channel.
- Earthing up reduces weed growth and population.
- Earthing up closes the spreading tillers in sugarcane which makes the tying of canes easier.
- Earthing up increasing the number of tubers in potato and prevents solarization of developing tubers.
- The initiation of new (late) tillers in rice and sugarcane or rhizomes in taro, turmeric and ginger are restricted. vi. The pegs of groundnut, the stolons and the tubers of potato and the stilt roots of maize are covered with earth.