Flowering and Fruit Setting

• Carrot plant bear compound umbel
• It is the king umbel (primary umbel) or umbel of the first order flowers first.
• Secondary, tertiary and other order umbels flower at interval of 8-12 days from each other
• Anthesis in a single umbel completed in 7-9 days
• Peripheral umbellets flower first followed by inner umbellets
• Umbel of first two oerder set seeds 100 % umbels
• Third =82.7% , fourth = 6.29% and other 2.78% onward
• Late formed umbel seed set poorly
• Carrot flower is protandrous, so require cross pollination
• Insects are main pollinating agents, honeybee and housefly

Seed Harvesting and Storage

• Shattering occurs to some extent but not serious problem
• Crop is harvested when secondary umbels are fully ripe and the third order umbels have started to turn brown
• Seed pods are harvested by mechanically and manually
• Harvested plants are kept in wider rows in small piles of 3-5 plants for curing
• Curing is completed within 5-14 days or more, depending on weather condition
• Seed is then threshed, cleaned, graded
• The spines on the seeds are remove by breaking off the spines through some sort of rubbing action.
• Seeds are store in air tight container in cool and dry place.

Seed Yield

• Average seed yield of Carrot is 600-700 Kg per hectare however it depends of variety, soil types, climate and growing condition