Application of pumping and rice planting patterns to improve the productivity of fresh water swampy rice fields in South Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Productivity of the fresh water rice fields is currently relatively low due to various factors such as cropping patterns and water factors. This study aimed to compare four cropping patterns in cultivation of swampy fresh water rice. The four cropping patterns consisted of the cropping patterns of Farmer Entrepreneurs, Conventional Farmers, Fostered Farmers of Jajar Legowo Super, and Fostered Farmers of Tegel Diairi. The study used descriptive method by collecting primary data presented in tabular forms. The primary data were the plant height (cm), maximum number of tillers (stems/clumps), productive tillers (stems/clumps), panicle length (cm), number of grains/panicles, dry weight of biomass and grains of rice, weight of 1000 grains (g), and land productivity (tons/ha). The study was conducted in Pemulutan Subdistrict, Ogan Ilir District of South Sumatra. The cropping pattern of Fostered Farmers of Jajar Legowo Super with the pumping was the best treatment viewed from the agronomic performance, namely the highest number of grains per panicle of 115.72, the number of pithed grains per panicle of 110.53, weight of 1,000 grains (g) of 22.07 and grain productivity of dry harvest of 7.33 tons/ha. The treatment of conventional farmers' cropping pattern was the lowest one in terms of the lowest number of grains per panicle which was 72.24, the number of pithed grains per panicle which was 67.43, the weight of 1,000 grains (g) which was 18.55, and the productivity of dry grains which was 1, 69 tons/ha.