DRY SEEDED IRRIGATED UN-PUDDLED LOWLAND RICE

Also be called ‘semi-dry rice’
It is a contingent plan to command areas, anticipating the release of water; rice crop can be established under rainfed condition up to a maximum of 45 days as that of previous two situations.  Field is converted to wet condition on receipt of canal water. Conversion depends up on receipt of canal water and nutrient management is decided according to the period of irrigation.

Area

• Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts

Season

• Samba / Thaladi seasons command areas.

Field preparation

• Dry plough to get fine tilth taking advantage of rains and soil moisture availability.
• Apply gypsum at 1 t/ha basally wherever soil crusting and soil hardening problem exist.
• Perfect land leveling for efficient weed and water management.
• Provide shallow trenches (15 cm width) at an interval of 3m all along the field to facilitate draining excess water at the early growth stage.

Varieties

• Medium duration varieties, if sown in August and short duration varieties beyond September, as mentioned in season and vanities.
• Since there is assured irrigation from canal, high yielding improved short or medium duration varieties can be cultivated depending up on the situation (month of sowing, nearness to canal, depth of standing water during NEM etc).

Sowing

• Seed rate: 75kg/ha dry seed for any recommended variety.
• Seed hardening with 1% KCl for 16 hours (seed and KCl solution 1:1) and shade dried to bring to storable moisture. This will enable the crop to withstand early moisture stress.
• On the day of sowing, treat the hardened seeds first with Pseudomonas fluorescens 10g/kg of seed and then with Azophos 2000g or Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 600g each per ha seed, whichever is available.
• Drill sow with 20 cm inter row spacing using seed drill.
• The seeds can also be sown behind the country plough
• Depth of sowing should be 3 - 5 cm and the top soil can be made compact with leveling board.
• Pre-monsoon sowing is advocated for uniform germination.
• Pre-monsoon sowing with medium duration variety is an advantage for higher grain yield and as well to manage the heavy rainy season.

After cultivation

• 10 packets (2 kg/ha ) each of Azospirillum inoculant and Phosphobacteria or 10 packets (2 kg/ha) of Azophos mixed with 25 kg of FYM may be broadcasted uniformly over the field just after the receipt soaking rain / moisture.
• Thinning and gap filling should be done 14 - 21 days after sowing, taking advantage of the immediate rain.

Manures and fertilizer application

• Apply FYM/compost at 12.5 t/ha or 750 kg of FYM enriched with 50 kg P2O5 as basal dose in clay soils of Nagapattinam / Tiruvarur district.
• Blanket recommendation : 75:50:37.5 kg N:P2O5:K2O /ha
• N and K in three splits at around 20-25, 40-45 and 60-65 days for short duration varieties or four splits for medium duration varieties at around 20-25, 40-45, 60-65 and 80-85 days after germination is suitable.
• Each split may follow 25kg N and 12.5 kg K2O.
• If the moisture availability is substantial and canal water received from tillering phases itself, the split at panicle initiation (40-45 DAS in short duration and 60-65 DAS in medium duration) may be applied up to 40kg N and 12.5kg K2O to enhance the growth and the grain yield. 
• To induce tolerance under short and prolonged drought situation in Kuruvai season, apart from seed treatment, foliar spray with 1% KCl + CCC at 500ppm during vegetative stage is effective in mitigating the drought and in increasing the yield.
• Basal application of ZnSO4 at 25 kg/ha and FeSO4 at 50 kg/ha is desirable wherever zinc and iron deficiency were noted (or) apply TNAU Rainfed rice MN mixture @12.5 kg/ha as EFYM at 1:10 ratio incubated for 30 days at friable moisture.
• Need based foliar application of 0.5% ZnSO4 and 1% FeSO4 may be taken up at tillering and PI stages
• Foliar spray of 1% urea + 2% DAP + 1%KCl at PI and 10 days later may be taken up for enhancing the rice yield if sufficient soil moisture is ensured.

Weed management

• First weeding should be done between 15 and 21 days after germination.
• Second weeding may be done 30 - 45 days after first weeding.
• Apply pendimethalin 1.0kg/ha on 5 days after sowing or Pretilachlor + safener (Sofit) 0.45kg/ha on the day of receipt of soaking rain followed by one hand weeding on 30 to 35 days after sowing.

Hand weeding		Application of post emergence herbicide (Pretilachlor + safener (Sofit) 0.45kg/ha)

Other special cultural practices

• Spray Cycocel 1000 ppm (1 ml of commercial product in one lit. of water) under water deficit situations to mitigate ill-effects.
• Foliar spray of Kaolin 3% or KCl 1% to overcome moisture stress at different physiological stages of rice.
• For delayed water release in LBP area, irrigating rice to 5cm depth three days after disappearance of pounded water and growing ADT 38 rice can be resorted to if the release of water is delayed up to September.
• The first top dressing should be applied immediately after the receipt of sufficient rain or canal water.
• Hand weeding, thinning and gap filling should be done before N-fertilizer application.
• Subsequent top dressings in two or three splits should be done before heading.

Water management

• As that of irrigated rice when canal water is used for irrigation
• Possibility of subsequent conversion towards deep water situation is seen in this tract, then variety should be specific for those areas.

Harvest

• As that of transplanted rice. This area is more suitable to combine harvester.

DEEP WATER RICE Cultivation is like the methods described in this section except the harvest. Harvest may some times restricted only to panicle because of the standing water even after maturity.

Source: banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/D_0096.htm

Updated on : May 2013