Introduction

1. Introduction • Main objective of wet nursery is to obtain healthy, vigorous and uniform seedlings of appropriate age for transplanting as they establish themselves faster, grow better and give maximum yield. • Sprouted seeds sown on moist puddled soil in wet nurseries which are preferred under irrigated condition.

2. Land Preparation • Add well decomposed organic manures and/or fertilizers as needed. Irrigate, plow, puddle and level the field as done in conventional methods. Traditional method of land preparation • Apply chemical fertilizers @ 1.5 kg ammonium sulfate, 1 kg di calcium phosphate, 1 kg potassium chloride per 100 sq meter nursery. Spread these fertilizers all over the nursery.

3. Land Preparation Puddling : land preparation Leveling of seed bed surface

4. Preparation of seed beds • Beds 2.5 m wide and 4-5 cm high are prepared. Their length may vary from 8 -10 m depending on the soil and slope. 800 m2 nursery could produce seedlings sufficient for one hectare area. • Prepare 30cm wide channels on all sides of the seedbeds. The soil from the channels is spread on the beds. Raising the height of beds facilitates proper drainage in the beds.

5. Seed Selection and Rate Variety • Selection of appropriate variety is essential to obtain good crop yield. • Varieties suitable for rice production in a particular region are developed by local research stations. • Certified, healthy seeds should be obtained authentic sources for optimum nursery production. Seed Rate 30 kg for long duration 60 kg for short duration 20 kg for hybrids varieties 40 kg for medium duration

6. Seed Treatments • Dry Seed Treatment (Chemical): • Treatment with fungicide like Bavistin or Thiram @ 2 g/kg seeds • Wet Seed Treatment (Chemical): • Treatment protects seedlings from blast up to transplanting. • Soak 1 kg seeds in 2g Carbendazim or Pyroquilon or Tricyclozole solution in 1L water for 2 hrs. • Drain the solution, sprout the seeds and sow in the nursery bed.

7. Seed Treatments Dry treatment of seeds with Thiram Wet Treatment of rice seeds.

8. Biological Seed Treatments • Pseudomonas fluorescens: • Seeds soaked in talc based Pseudomonas fluorescens overnight @ 10g/L water/kg seeds. Excess water drained, seeds sprouted and then sown. • It controls bacterial sheath blight. 2. Azospirillum: • Bio-inoculant: 600g/ha Azospirillum & 600g/ha PSB or 1200g/ha Azophos. • Seeds soaked overnight in bio-inoculant mixed with water. • Can be mixed with biofertilizers for seed soaking. • Fungicides and biocontrol agents are incompatible

9. Sowing of Seeds • Sow 2.5 kilograms of paddy on nursery of 40 m2. Seed bed should have only a thin film of water over the soil. • Sow sprouted seeds uniformly on the seedbed. • Cover the seeds with a thin layer of very fine soil. 1. Sowing of pretreated seeds 2. Covering of seeds with soil 3. Bed sown with seeds

10. Water Management • Drain water from bed 18-24 hrs after sowing. Avoid stagnation of water. • Allow enough water to saturate the soil from 3rd-5th day. Increase water depth to 1.5cm depending on seedling height. Later on, maintain 2.5cm depth of water. Maintain 2.5cm depth water in seed bed

11. Weed Management • Apply pre-emergence herbicides Pretilachlor +Safener 0.3kg/ha, on 3rd or 4th day after sowing to control weeds.  • Keep a thin film of water before applying the herbicide and avoid draining it.  Application of herbicide in a rice nursery

12. Nutrient Management • Apply 1 ton well decomposed FYM or compost for 1 ha nursery. • For less fertile soils, apply 40kg of DAP or apply straight fertilizers 16kg of urea and 120kg of super phosphate, before last puddling. • Basal application of DAP is also recommended 10 days before pulling out the seedlings. • 4kg of gypsum and 1kg of DAP is applied at 10 days after sowing in clayey soils where root snapping is a problem.