As it has low water requirement, barley is grown as a rainfed crop. To give good yields, barley requires 2-3 irrigation. One extra irrigation is required only on sandy soils. One or two extra irrigation will be required on sandy soils. If the supply of water is inadequate, its efficiency can be increased by a proper timing of its application at the critical stages of growth of the crop. If only one irrigation is available, its application near the tillering stage has proved very profitable. When two irrigation are available, one should be applied at the active tillering stage and the other at the flowering stage. On highly alkali-saline soils, frequent light irrigation gives better results than a fewer heavy irrigation.

The rainfed barley crop is rarely manured directly. It is the preceding crop in the rotation which receives the manure. Irrigated barley is often given a basal dose of eight to ten cartloads of farmyard manure or compost. Any subsequent application of a fertilizer, however, is not practised. Recent agronomic experiments indicate that barley responds strikingly to an application of 20-40 kg of N per ha under rainfed conditions, and to 40-60 kg of N per ha under irrigated conditions, depending upon the soil, climate and variety. The application of 20 kg of N per ha to the crop under dy-land farming led to the realization of 2-6 q per ha of aditional grain and an applicatiion of 40 kg of N per ha under irrigated conditions resulted in a yield of 7-9 q per ha more than that from unfertilized plot at different locations. Good response to phosphorus up to 20 kg of N per ha has been obtained under irrigated and timely-sown conditions, but only at some locations. Hence its application needs to be governed by a soil-test value.

To maximize the efficiency of nitrogenous fertilizers, the full dose of nitrogen should be placed 8-10 cm deep in the soil at sowing time under rainfed conditions. For irrigated barley, a split application of the half dose of nitrogen plus the full dose of P2O5 at sowing time and the remaining half dose of nitrogen with the first irrigation as a top-dressing is advantageous. Excess of nitrogen affects the malting and brewing quality of grain adversely. Super phosphate, however, helps to neutralize its deleterious effects.

Harvesting of barley in Jammu, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh takes place from the third week of March to the middle of April. In Madhya Pradesh, southern and eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, it starts a week to ten days earlier and in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka by about the first week of February. In the hills, where it is grown during the rabi season, the harvesting time varies from the end of April to the end of May, depending upon the altitude. The spring-sown crop is harvested from the end of July to the end of September. The plants are uprooted or cut with a sickle when fully ripe. In order to prevent the loss of grain through shattering, the crop should be harvested immediately after it ripens. It is also advisable to cut the crop in the early hours of the morning as the head becomes too dry and fragile for handling in the afternoon. The threshing in the plains is done by treading the dried produce under the feet of cattle or by stationary threshers. The grain is separated by winnowing.