Growth, Yield and Economic Analysis of Dry-Seeded Basmati Rice

Abstract

R ice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food crop of more than half of the inhabitants across the globe (Khush, 2004). In Pakistan, after wheat, it occupies 2 nd position. Its cropped area was 3034 M ha and production was 7.410 M tons (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2019). Among the cereal crops, rice is an important export commodity (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2019). It contributes 3.1% in value addition to agriculture and 0.6% in the GDP (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2019). The average yield of rice in Pakistan is about 2.44 t ha -1 (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2019) which is low as compared to other rice producing countries due to many constraints including proper crop establishing techniques (Aslam, 2016).In Asia rice is growing by transplanting, rice seedlings manually in puddled soil which is a widely adopted method. It consumes abundant water (Bouman and Tuong, 2001). Whereas, water resources are declining day by day. Its judicious use is gaining a pivotal importance to fulfil future water and food demand for the growing population (Mahajan et al., 2012). Shrinking water resources availability is a threat for the future rice production in Asia (Mahajan et al., 2012) and will adversely affect the sustainability of Abstract | Planting method is an important aspect of production technology for the maximum resource utilization by crops per unit area. Dry-seeded rice (DSR) is a contemporary resource saving crop establishing technique, which enables farmers to harvest economical rice production. Field study was conducted at Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, Pakistan in 2014 and in 2015 to evaluate the different planting methods. Three dry-seeded rice (DSR) planting methods viz. (i) DSR-broadcast, (ii) DSR-drill, (iii) DSR-ridges were compared with the conventional transplanting (TR) method in lines having row to row and plant to plant distance of 22.5cm distance, and farmer transplanting method. Experimental design was randomized complete block, replicated 3 times. Data were recorded on height (cm), tillers m -2 , filled and unfilled grains panicle -1 , thousand grain weight (g), grain and biomass yield (t ha -1 ). Grain sterility (%) and harvest index (%) were also calculated. Highest grain yield (5.00 to 5.11 t ha -1 ) with harvest index (30.00 to 31.50%) and relatively low grain sterility (12.00 to 12.01%) were observed in DSR-ridge and DSR-drill sowing method. Moreover, DSR (i.e. DSR-ridge and -drill) resulted in 104 and 76 % more profit over TR-farmer practice. The study concluded that DSR-ridge and DSR-drill proved to be the best to obtain the maximum paddy yield and net profit. Farmers can adopt these methods to harvest maximum benefit.

Impact of Front-Line Demonstration on Direct Seeded Rice Technology under Rice-Wheat Cropping System

“…Reducing nitrogen application in the direct seeding method minimizes the impact of pests and diseases that help improve crop yields in demonstration fields. These findings are similar to those of Iqbal et al, [5]. The productivity of rice could be increased in comparison to the yield obtained by farmers using local long duration varieties, unbalanced fertilizer doses, untimely sowing and no pest management.…”

“…This may be due to higher yield achieved under direct seeded rice compared to farmer's practices. This finding is corroborated by the conclusions of Iqbal et al [5].…”

“…The DSR increase the net profit by reducing the cost of production. Direct seeded rice-drill increases productivity by 8-10% over broadcasting method [5]. Short duration variety suitable for rain fed condition, direct seeded rice, weed & nutrient management.…”

Revisiting innovation practices in subsistence farming: the net effects of land management, pesticide, herbicide and fungicide practices on expected crop harvest in Ethiopia

“…Selecting an ideal planting method is of genuine essence in arid regions (like Ethiopia) where water conservation and irrigation are real issues (Lalitha and Chhabra, 2020). Making appropriate decisions in this regard not only affects crop yield and quality, but also impacts on soil health (Iqbal et al, 2019). Also, sowing technique has an apparent bearing on labour requirement (Vandercasteelen et al, 2018), with row planting said to be more labour-intensive than broadcast planting.…”

Salicylic Acid Improves Rice Seed Germination under Induced Drought Stress

“…Dry seeded rice (DSR) technology has emerged as an alternate to conventional transplanting culture (Liu et al, 2015a). The main advantages of DSR includes resource conservation (water saving) and economical, making it more suitable for sustainable rice production (Iqbal et al, 2019(Iqbal et al, , 2021. However, DSR confronts with poor crop establishment due to unequal water distribution in variable field conditions, which greatly hampers large-scale adoption of this technology.…”