Developing stand establishment of rice ( O m in sativa) flood-prone lowland situations-an exploratory study under on-station and on-farm location

Abstract

A field study was conducted both under on-station location at the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, in 1996 and successively under on-farm location at farmers field in 1997. The locations were identified under rainfed lowland ecologies, characterized with aberrant micro-environment constraining the normal yield potential of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Generally, the ecology experiences a waterlogged situation during entire crop-growing period. Water depth fluctuated between 0 and 50 cm; thereby the situation could be ldentified - a2 intermediate deep water situation. The cropping geometry constitutlng 4 rows *- continuous seeding alternated with 1 row skip (no seeding) at 15 cm x 20 cm spacing arrangement under 4 : 1 stand situation achieved the maximum grain yield, 2.46 and 2.33 tonnesfha in 1996 and 1997, respectively, comparable with that devoid of any skip within the entire stand. Nonetheless it also ldentified a semi-dwarf plant type CR 260-77, superior to other plant types assessed under the identical situation. Therefore, the study has a great applied slgnificance ensuring considerable relief in operational expenditure over that incurred traditionally following conventional method of stand establishment; importantly, no significant reduction in grain yield was realized herein compared with conventional method.