Direct Seeded Rice: Prospects, Constraints, Opportunities and Strategies for Aerobic Rice (Oryza sativa L) in Chhattisgarh - A Review

Abstract

Rice is commonly grown by transplanting of seedlings into puddled soil, which is not only intensive water user but also cumbersome and laborious. Looming, fresh water scarcity, water pollution, competition for water use, growing population, rising demand for food, climate change and global warming, water-intensive nature of rice cultivation and escalating labour costs have threatened the puddled transplanted rice system. The excessive utilization of natural resource bases and changing climate are leading to the negative yield trend and plateauing of rice productivity. The conservation agriculture based efficient and environmental friendly alternative management methods to increase water productivity in rice cultivation. Direct seeded rice(DSR) alternative establishment method of aerobic rice to sustain productivity of rice as well as natural resources. Aerobic rice is a projected sustainable rice production technology, which can reduce water use in rice production and produce more rice with less water. It offers certain advantages viz., less labour, less water requirement, less drudgery, early crop maturity, low production cost, proper placement of seed and fertilizer, increase fertilizer use efficiency, improve soil health for crops and less methane emission, under aerobic rice production system. However, the hurdles in achieving potential yield under aerobic system has to be overcome by focused research, then only we can make aerobic rice a potentially viable alternative to direct seeded rice (DSR). Direct seeded rice can be obtained by adopting various package and practices with scientific intervention contribute to increase the productivity and profitability of rice in Chhattisgarh state.