Crop biology

• Tobacco belongs to Solanaceae family and is a warm season, herbaceous annual with long crop duration.
• The crop growth period however, can be distinguished into seedling stage (40-60 days) and plantation stage (100+ days).
• The seedling stages can be demarked into 4 sub-stages;

1. Emergence of cotyledon
2. The 1st pair of leaves
3. The 2nd pair of leaves
4. Seedlings with 5-6 leaves ready to be planted.

When transplanted the tobacco plants go through the following stages;

1. Rooting stage (5-8 days)
2. Rapid growth stage (20-40 days with maximum during flowering)
3. Flower budding(10 days)
4. Flower blooming (10 days)
5. Seed ripening (20-30 days)

• Commercial maturation  in  the  leaves  of  lower  layers  (tiers) begins in 35-45 days and in the upper layers in 70-110 days after transplanting.