Tobacco

Last updated: June 27, 2025

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) — an alkaloid crop, also considered one of the most labor-intensive industrial crops.

Economic importance

Tobacco is grown for its leaves, which serve as raw material in the manufacture of cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco.

Tobacco leaves contain:

nicotine 1–3%;
essential oils — about 1%;
resins — 4–7%;
proteins — 7–10%;
carbohydrates — 4–13%;
ash — 13–15%.

The smell and aroma of tobacco are due to resins and essential oils.

Nicotine is synthesized by the root system of tobacco plants. This was proved by Academician A. A. Shmuk in 1941 together with colleagues. If tobacco is grafted onto tomato, almost no nicotine is found in tobacco leaves, and, conversely, in the leaves of tomato grafted onto tobacco, up to 3–4% nicotine accumulates.

Tobacco also serves as a raw material in the pharmaceutical industry.

History

The homeland of tobacco is America. The Indians of South and Central America used tobacco leaves for smoking long before Europeans discovered the continent.

Cultivation areas and yield

Currently, tobacco is grown in many countries around the world. The sown area of tobacco is more than 4 million ha. More than half of world production comes from China, the USA, India, and Brazil.

In the USSR, over 170,000 ha were occupied by tobacco crops. The main cultivation regions were Moldova, southern and southwestern Ukraine, the countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, and in Russia — the North Caucasus. The average tobacco yield is 15–20 c/ha. The maximum yields that were obtained were 30–35 c/ha. For example, on the Krupskaya collective farm in the Urgut district of Samarkand region, Uzbekistan, on an area of 1,027 ha, the yield reached 35.5 c/ha with an output of higher grades of 87%.

Botanical description

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.), or cultivated tobacco, is an annual plant belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). The genus includes about 70 species.

The root is taproot, penetrating into the soil to a depth of 1.5–2 m. The stem is erect, pubescent. Plants reach 100–180 cm in height.

Leaves are large, petiolate or sessile, entire, oval, ovate, or elliptical, pointed, with a smooth or wrinkled surface. The number of leaves on one plant reaches 25–50. Their number and size depend on the variety type and growing conditions. Leaves and stem are covered with short sticky hairs.

The inflorescence is paniculate, corymbose. Flowers are bisexual, pedicellate, five-parted, with bracts. The calyx is bell-shaped. The corolla is longer than the calyx, covered with hairs on the outside. The corolla tube is white, the limb pink or red. The ovary is superior, usually two-celled. The stigma is two-lobed. There are five stamens.

Tobacco is self-pollinating, but cross-pollination is possible.

The fruit is a two-celled, many-seeded, oval capsule, 1.5–2.0 cm long, brown, cracking when ripe. Up to 5,000 seeds can form in one capsule.

Seeds are oval, dark brown, very small. Weight of 1,000 seeds (0.05) 0.06–0.08 (0.12) g.

In tobacco growing, two groups of tobacco are distinguished — cigarette and cigar. Cigarette tobacco is divided into eastern and American. In the USSR, eastern cigarette tobacco was most widespread; its varieties according to smoking qualities are divided into aromatic (flavoring, added to tobacco raw material in small amounts) and skeletal, which form the basis of smoking products.

Biological features

Temperature requirements

Tobacco seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 10–12 °C. The optimal temperature is 25–30 °C. At temperatures above 35 °C, tobacco growth stops.

Frosts of −2…−3 °C are destructive for young plants. However, in autumn tobacco tolerates short-term low temperatures well.

Moisture requirements

The optimal soil moisture for tobacco is 65–70% FC.

The greatest need for water occurs during transplanting and rooting of seedlings, as well as during leaf formation and intensive plant growth. Lack of moisture at this time leads to a decrease in leaf size and premature ripening, which causes a decrease in yield and quality of tobacco.

Excess moisture, especially on heavy clay soils, leads to waterlogging of plants.

The transpiration coefficient is 500–600.

Soil requirements

Optimal for tobacco are light-textured, structured soils with a low humus content. An excess of organic matter in the soil leads to deterioration of the smoking qualities of tobacco.

Tobacco is a chlorophobic crop. Chloride compounds of sodium and calcium in the soil reduce its combustibility.

Heavy clayey, saline, and waterlogged soils are unsuitable for cultivation.

Light requirements

Tobacco is a light-loving plant.

Insufficient lighting leads to delayed plant development and reduced raw material quality.

Vegetation

In tobacco cultivation, two periods are distinguished:

growing seedlings from seeds in hotbeds or soil beds;
growing tobacco from seedlings in the field.

The seedling formation period usually lasts 45–50 days, but depends on the variety and usually ends by the appearance of 5–6 true leaves.

The period from transplanting seedlings into the field to the onset of technical ripeness of the upper-tier leaves lasts 80–120 days. Rooting of seedlings after transplanting into the field takes 10–15 days, after which the phases of stem formation, budding, flowering, formation, and ripening of seeds begin.

Leaf formation in tobacco occurs in tiers.

The technological properties of leaves are determined by varietal characteristics, tier, and growing conditions.

Crop rotation

The best predecessors of tobacco in crop rotation are considered winter cereals, sugar beet, maize, annual legumes, and cereal grasses. On less fertile soils, tobacco is recommended to be placed after grain legumes and after the sod layer.

With a high saturation of the crop rotation with tobacco, its repeated planting after a year is allowed, after which it is returned to this field only after 3–4 years. However, scientifically based inclusion of tobacco in crop rotation allows increasing its yield by 1.5–2 times compared with continuous and repeated crops.

According to data from the VNII of Tobacco and makhorka, tobacco is recommended to be placed on light sandy loam, roughly skeletal, and low-humus podzolized piedmont soils after a layer of perennial grasses; on rich fertile soils — after the sod layer, in some cases in the third year after perennial grasses.

Tobacco crop rotation

Tobacco plantings are usually placed not far from water sources and drying structures. For this reason, this crop is cultivated in special tobacco crop rotations with a narrow set of crops.

Tobacco crop rotations can be row-crop, grass-row, or fruit-changing. They are based on placing tobacco after the best predecessors for it — winter wheat, perennial grasses, sugar beet, maize, annual legumes, and cereal grasses.

Undesirable predecessors are hemp, sunflower, melons, Solanaceae crops, since they share pests and diseases with tobacco.

In the piedmont regions of Krasnodar Krai, the following tobacco crop rotation is used: 1–2 — alfalfa of the 1st–2nd year of use, 3 — tobacco, 4 — maize, 5 — tobacco, 6 — annual grasses, 7 — tobacco, 8 — spring barley with undersowing of perennial grasses. The share of tobacco is 37.5% of the total area.

On poor podzolized soils of Krasnodar Krai, tobacco is cultivated after a layer of perennial grasses, and also in the third year after them in the rotation: 1–2 — perennial grasses of the 1st–2nd year of use, 3 — tobacco, 4 — maize or Sudan grass, 5 — tobacco, 6 — spring barley with undersowing of perennial grasses. The share of tobacco is 33% of the area.

In a number of farms of Krasnodar Krai, the following rotation is used: 1–2 — perennial grasses of the 1st–2nd year of use, 3 — winter wheat, 4 — tobacco, 5 — winter wheat, 6 — tobacco, 7 — Sudan grass, 8 — tobacco.

In the piedmont regions of Kuban, the following 8-field grain-grass-row (fruit-changing) rotation is used: 1–2 — perennial grasses, 3 — winter wheat, 4–5 — tobacco, 6 — winter wheat + catch crop, 7 — tobacco, 8 — maize.

In the humid subtropical zone of Krasnodar Krai, the following tobacco rotation has been introduced: 1 — clover for two cuts, 2 — tobacco + catch crop, 3 — maize + catch crop, 4 — tobacco, 5 — cereals with undersowing of clover.

Fertilization system

Tobacco has high requirements for nutrient supply. On average, to form 100 kg of leaves, it absorbs from the soil 6 kg of nitrogen, 1.7 kg of phosphorus, 4.6 kg of potassium, and 6.7 kg of calcium. Therefore, this crop responds well to the application of organic and mineral fertilizers.

In turn, nitrogen fertilizers should be applied in moderate amounts, since an excess of nitrogen in the soil worsens the quality of tobacco raw material. Joint application of nitrogen and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers weakens the negative effect of excess nitrogen.

Since tobacco belongs to chlorophobic crops, it is not recommended to use chlorine-containing fertilizers.

To obtain a yield of 15–20 c/ha of leaves, it is recommended to apply 10–15 t/ha of manure, 30–60 kg/ha of nitrogen, 80–120 kg/ha of phosphorus, 70–100 kg/ha of potassium (Vavilov; according to other data, from N_15-20P_50-60K_70-75 to N_45-60P_90-100K_120-150, Kolomeychenko). Manure and 2/3 of the total norm of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are applied in autumn under deep plowing; nitrogen and the rest of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers — in spring during cultivation and in top dressing. When cultivating tobacco under irrigation or excessive moisture, mineral fertilizers are applied in spring under replowing.

Top dressing is carried out at the beginning of intensive tobacco growth, that is, 10–12 days after transplanting seedlings. With weak growth, a second top dressing is carried out 8–10 days after the first.

A lack of boron in the soil can cause drying of the top of tobacco plants.

Tobacco responds positively to zinc and lithium fertilizers. For foliar top dressing, a solution containing up to 0.1% lithium is used.

Soil treatment system

Autumn soil treatment includes:

double stubble disking to a depth of 5–7 cm and 10–13 cm;
fall plowing to a depth of 25–30 cm (Vavilov; according to other data, to 20–22 cm, Kolomeychenko), which should be carried out in a timely manner.

Spring soil treatment includes:

harrowing of fall plowing;
2–3 cultivations with simultaneous harrowing.

The number of cultivations depends on the weediness of the fields and the timing of seedling transplanting.

Growing seedlings

Tobacco is grown only by the seedling method. Seedlings are grown in heated and solar hotbeds (seedbeds), in film greenhouses, or on soil beds.

Seedbeds should be placed on level places with a slight slope to the south or southwest. They should be well lit and located away from tobacco fields, drying houses, and tobacco storages in order to prevent infection of seedlings with wildfire, mosaic, and other diseases.

Tobacco seedbeds are prepared in the same way as for vegetable crops.

Sowing

The timing of sowing tobacco seeds in seedbeds is determined by the timing of transplanting seedlings into the field. Depending on the type of seedbed and weather conditions, 35–65 days are required to obtain ready seedlings. For example, in the North Caucasus, seedlings in heated hotbeds are obtained on the 45th day, in solar hotbeds — on the 55th, in soil beds — on the 60th day after sowing.

The seeding rate for hotbeds is 0.6 g/m², warm beds — 0.8 g/m², cold beds — 1 g/m².

Seedling care

Tobacco seedling care includes:

watering;
ventilation;
top dressing;
weeding of weeds;
pest and disease control.

Watering of seedlings is done in small portions of water, but often, not allowing the surface of the nutrient mixture to dry out.

The optimal temperature from sowing to emergence is 22–28 °C, after emergence — 18–25 °C. In hotbeds with technical heating, the temperature is regulated by heating; in other types of hotbeds — by ventilation and covering them with mats for insulation.

Top dressing of seedlings with mineral and organic fertilizers is carried out 3–4 times. The rate of mineral fertilizers for top dressing in the form of a solution: nitrogen 2 g/m², phosphorus 2 g/m², potassium 5 g/m². Solution consumption is 200 l per 100 m².

For top dressing with organic fertilizers, usually a fermented infusion of chicken manure diluted 1:20 or 1:30 is used.

Weed control on seedling crops is carried out as they appear.

Dense seedlings are thinned.

Before weeding and thinning, if the seedbeds are dry, watering is carried out.

By the time of transplanting, seedlings should have a well-developed root system, a flexible, dense stem with 5–6 true leaves.

Before pulling, seedlings are hardened. For this, 8–10 days before, they are watered every 1–2 days, stopping 2–3 days before transplanting.

The output of seedlings is: in hotbeds with a warming layer — 2,500 pcs/m², in solar hotbeds — 2,000 pcs/m², on soil beds — 1,500 pcs/m².

One hectare of plantings requires 40–60 m² of seedbeds depending on the variety.

NPO "Tobacco" and the Moldovan SRI of Tobacco developed a technology for growing seedlings on a nutrient mixture not changed for 4–5 years. The technology provides for annual disinfection of hotbed or greenhouse soil.

Transplanting seedlings

Transplanting seedlings into the field begins when the temperature of the topsoil reaches 10–12 °C and the danger of frost has passed. For most tobacco-growing areas, these conditions occur in the third decade of April. Transplanting seedlings should be completed by the third decade of May.

Early transplanting dates have an advantage, especially in Crimea, where spring is often dry.

The plant density of tobacco depends on the cultivation area and varietal characteristics:

small-leaved varieties are planted according to the scheme 50×12 cm with a plant density of 150–200 thousand pcs/ha;
medium-leaved — 60×20–24 cm with a density of 80–90 thousand pcs/ha;
large-leaved — 70×30 and 90×20 cm with a density of 45–55 thousand pcs/ha.

Tobacco planting is carried out with seedling-planting machines. For row planting, the MPR-4 seedling-planting machine can be used.

Care of plantings

An important method of caring for tobacco plantings is inter-row soil treatment, which is usually 3–4 times with an interval of 8–12 days.

The first treatment is carried out to a depth of 6–8 cm, subsequent ones — 10–12 cm. With insufficient soil moisture, treatment is done to a depth of 6–8 cm.

When cultivating tobacco under irrigation, plantations are watered 2–6 times. The irrigation rate is 500–800 m³/ha.

Special methods of caring for plantings are cleaning, topping, and suckering of tobacco.

Cleaning is the removal of lower seedling leaves, followed by their destruction. This technique promotes better development of leaves of the following tiers.

Topping is the removal of inflorescences. It is carried out from the beginning of flowering 3–4 times.

Suckering is the removal of lateral shoots. It is carried out simultaneously with topping.

Topping and suckering help increase the yield because plastic substances are not spent on further development of inflorescences and lateral shoots, but are used by the leaves.

Tobacco is considered a crop with average competitiveness. Parasitic weeds (broomrape (Orobanche sp.) and dodder (Cuscuta sp.)) may appear in tobacco plantings. In the fight against parasitic weeds, crop rotation is of great importance, which should include crops resistant to these weeds: barley, wheat, rice, oats, millet, or perennial grasses.

The main pests of tobacco include: slugs, mole cricket, tobacco thrips, wireworm, meadow moth, black weevil. Main diseases: black root rot, bacterial wildfire, powdery mildew, mosaic, ring spot, etc.

Harvesting

The ripening of tobacco leaves occurs unevenly. The oldest lower leaves ripen first, then the middle ones, and the upper leaves last. Most varieties have five ripening tiers.

Tobacco leaves are harvested by hand. For this, over 1.5–2 months, 5–10 pickings are made. The number of pickings, as a rule, coincides with the number of ripening tiers. In one picking, 3–7 leaves are removed from one plant.

The harvested leaves are folded into bundles and immediately sent to drying barns, where they are sorted, strung on cords 5–6 m long, and dried.

Tobacco drying

Tobacco drying is carried out in two phases: yellowing and fixation (actual drying).

Yellowing is carried out in drying barns on special frames — wagons, on which cords with strung leaves are hung. The optimal yellowing temperature is 25–30 °C; at this time respiration and evaporation of moisture by plants continue. During yellowing, protein breakdown, conversion of starch into sugar, and destruction of chlorophyll occur in leaf tissues. The nicotine content in leaves decreases, but the amount of aromatic substances increases. Moisture loss during yellowing is 6–7%, dry matter — 10–16%. As a result of yellowing, the leaves acquire a yellow color, and their quality improves. The duration of yellowing is usually 3–4 days.

After yellowing, fixation is carried out, that is, final drying of tobacco in the sun for 15–20 days or in special fire dryers at a temperature at the beginning of drying of 40–42 °C and at the end — 48–50 °C.

For tobacco drying, flow lines STG-1.5 can be used, which allow reducing labor costs by 35–40% compared with tube-fire drying. The STG-1.5 flow line for drying tobacco fixed on cords in vertical garlands allows the use of continuous technology of yellowing, drying, and moistening of leaves.

A relatively newer method of drying large-leaved tobacco — in bulk — consists of placing leaves in cassettes equipped with metal needles. For this method, installations STM-60, USTP-10, 801-TU are used.

After drying, the leaves are sorted according to the established standard into five grades, tied into bales, and delivered to procurement points. The moisture content of commercial raw material in bales (20–25 kg each) should not exceed 19%. From procurement points, tobacco, to improve quality and impart resistance against mold, is sent to fermentation plants, from where it already goes to tobacco factories.

Varieties

In the Soviet period, the following varieties were widespread:

for the production of raw material of the aromatic type — Dyubek 44-07, Dyubek Kyrgyz 03-04-15, Samsun 155;
for the production of raw material of the flavor and skeletal type — American 287-S, Trapezond 219, Trapezond 285, Trapezond 230, Sobolchsky 174, Ostrolist 1519, Peremozhets 83, Podolsky 23, Immunny 580, Talgarsky 25, and others.

List of sources

Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S., et al. (1986). Crop Production. Edited by Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and enlarged. Moscow: Agropromizdat.
Kolomeychenko V. V. (2007). Crop Production/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobiznescentr.