DIRECT SEEDED UMAR NAFEES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
MNS UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE MULTAN
RICE (DSR)
TECHNOLOGY
Direct Seeded Rice (DSR)
technology is indeed a part of
regenerative agriculture.
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DIRECT SEEDED
RICE (DSR)
TECHNOLOGY
Rice transplanting is the conventionally used method in rice growing
countries of Asia especially Pakistan. But it is no more cost-effective
because of water scarcity, unavailability of labor and high cost of
production. Transplanting technique has to be replaced with a
resource efficient, economical and productive method of sowing
without compromising the yield and net production to ensure the
food security in future.
Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) in place of the traditional transplanted rice is
a way to reduce labor charges for nursery raising, puddling and
transplanting. DSR is sown directly into the moist soil like wheat, corn
or cotton and does not need continuous submergence so it reduces
overall water requirement
RICE CULTURE IN PAKISTAN
Current rice culture, PTR, is a major freshwater user because of its large area
and consumption, which are, two to three times more than other cereals.
Rice consumes about 50% of total irrigation water used in Asia. It accounts
for about 24–30% of the withdrawal of world total freshwater and 34–43% of
the world’s irrigation water. To produce 1 kg rice though PTR systems, rice
crop consumed 4000-5000 L of water.
ADVANTAGES OF DSR :
Labor saving up to 75%
Water saving up to 30%
Early maturity of crop
Timely sowing of wheat crop
Saving of machinery
operations (needed for
puddling)
PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY :
The land should be prepared to produce a leveled seedbed with ne tilth free
of weeds. Fine seed bed ensures better yield because of good germination
and crop stand, root proliferation, fertilizer efficiency.
PLANTING TECHNIQUES AND SEED RATES :
Sowing is done in moist soils or in dry soil (immediately irrigated) with a
specically designed DSR drill and calibrated to deliver desired seed quantity
keeping 9ʺ row spacing. Seed should be moistened in water for overnight to
hasten germination. Soaked seed should, however, be dried in shade to
avoid stickiness of wet seed for drilling. Soaking of seed with fungicide
eliminates or reduces seed borne and soil-borne diseases. The seed rate for
direct seeding of ne grain rice varieties should be 16-18 kg and for coarse
varieties 14-16 kg per acre. Seed should be sown 2-3cm deep for good crop
stand as placing seed deeper will result in poor emergence.
SOWING TIME :
The best planting time for DSR is from end of June to early July. This,
coupled with the fact that DSR matures 10-12 days earlier, enables early
planting of the following wheat crop. Seeding too early causes crop sterility
due to high temperature at anthesis
IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT :
Irrigation Management: Irrigation is critical in DSR especially at earlier
stages. Soil must be kept moist for the rst 12 days to ensure complete
germination. First irrigation should be applied a days after sowing followed
by prest emergence weedicides one day after 1 irrigation. If, however,
heavy soaking dose is applied rst irrigation can be delayed until after
emergence. In that case herbicide application should be done in the
evening after sowing.
DSR crop does not require continuous submergence and can be safely
irrigated when hairline cracks appear on the soil. Moisture stress should be
avoided at tillering, panicle initiation, and grain lling stages which are
crucial for obtaining higher yields. At these stages it is advisable to keep
elds ooded. The last irrigation should be applied 20 days before harvesting.
DSR is an aerobic rice production and may show iron deciency symptoms
in some soils. Flooding or submerging the
MAJOR WEEDS
Leptochloa chinensis (Ghora grass/Bance
Cyperus iria (Barri Ghoin)
small ower umbrella plant
Scirpus maritimus (shoota deela)
DIRECT SEEDING OFFERS :
SSaving in water requirements by elimination of seedling raising and
puddling operations.
2. Minimum production cost by less labour requirement.
3. Timely sowing of rice crop.
4. Optimum plant population of rice crop
5. Availability of more time for wheat sowing through early maturing of
rice crop (10-15 days).
6. In addition, DSR is environmental friendly and results in decline of
methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions as compared to
transplanted rice. Two direct seeding techniques i.e. drilling of soak
AREA UNDER DSR IN PAKISTAN :
Area under DSR in Pakistan is gradually increasing as is
depicted from the manufacturing and sale of DSR drills. In
2018, tentative area under DSR in Pakistan is 46,000
hectares (Punjab province is 42, 000 hectares, in Sindh is
500 DSR and 3000 hectares wet direct seeding and in KPK
and Baluchistan around 200 hectares.
CURRENT CHALLENGES TO ADOPTING OF DSR IN
PAKISTAN
Three noxious weeds such as Leptochloa chinensis, Eragrostis japonica,
and Dactyloctenium aegyptium, are major hurdles in the adoption of DSR
systems by Pakistani farmers. If chemical for controlling these weeds are
available to Pakistani farmers, then area under DSR will abruptly increase
by many ways.
REFRENCES :
UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FAISALABAD
RICE RESEARCH INSTITUE KALA SHAH KAKU
MNS UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AGRONOMY DEPART MULTAN
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