Castor bean is one of the prominent industrial oilseed crops grown in India. It is confined to mostly Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh (undivided AP). Castor is also grown on a limited scale in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. The crop is known as poor man's crop and mostly confined to Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy and Nalgonda of Telangana while Prakasam, Anantapur and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh. In Telangana and AP, castor bean is cultivated under rainfed condition during kharif season and the productivity varies from 440-675 kg/ha, which is far below than the national average of 1512 kg/ha (DOR, 2012). The data on area, production and productivity of castor in AP (undivided) and Mahabubnagar are given in Tables 1 and 2. Data in Table 2 indicate that the productivity levels of Mahabubnagar district over years varies from 420 to 550 kg/ha, which is less than the state average.
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