System of Rice Intensification (SRI) - “Less can Produce more”

1. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) - “Less can Produce more” Dr. A. SATYANARAYANA Director of Extension Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University Rajendranagar, Hyderabad

2. Modern Agriculture • Overly Genocentric • Productivity gains were possible with increased use of inputs – Fertilizers, Pesticides, Water etc. They are now giving • Diminishing returns • Creating environmental hazards, health risks • Rising costs of production

3. 21st Century Agriculture needs to be • More productive in terms of - Land, Labour, Water, Capital, Energy, inputs • More environmentally benign • More robust in the face of climate change • More socially beneficial - reducing poverty, greater food security

4. Biological power and Eco-agriculture should be basic foundations for soil health • Micro organisms and other soil biota as creators and maintainers of soil fertility • Greater attention to plants roots

5. The basic idea of SRI Rice plants do best when their - roots can grow large because the plants are transplanted carefully at wider spacing and grown on soil that is kept well aerated with abundant and diverse soil microorganisms

6. The contribution of soil microbial activity need to be taken more seriously The microbial flora causes a large number of biochemical changes in the soil that largely determine the fertility of soil (De Datta, 1981)

7. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) – a way out

8. SRI offers increased factor productivity of • Land • Labour • Water

9. Rice is the most important food crop of India • Rice has been identified as Growth Engine under vision 2020 of Andhra Pradesh • The area and production of rice is coming down in recent years due to lack of sufficient water in irrigation systems • SRI has the potential to meet the challenge by virtue of its capacity to double or even triple the productivity and less water requirement

10. SRI was first developed in Madaskar during 1980’s • Not known outside Madagaskar until 1997 • Its potential is under testing in China, Indonesia, Combodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India • In A.P, SRI is experimented all the 22 districts with encouraging results • Over 1,00,000 farmers are experimenting with this system world wide at present • Few thousands of acres are under SRI in the very second season in AP

11. SRI Technology uses • Less external inputs • Less seed (2 kg/ac) • Fewer plants per unit area (25 x 25 cm) • Less chemical fertilizer • More organic manures • Less pesticides

12. SRI is initially labour intensive • Needs 50% more man days for transplanting and weeding • Mobilises labour to work for profit • It offers an alternative to resource poor, who puts in their family labour • Once skills are learnt and implements are used, the labour costs will be lesser than the present day Rice cultivation

13. SRI encourages rice plant to grow healthy with • Large root volume • Profuse and strong tillers • Non-lodging • Big panicle • More and well filled spikelets and higher grain weight • Resists insects Because it allows Rice to grow naturally

14. Root growth • Root growth can be massive in response to SRI practices • 3 hills under conventional method required 28 kg of force to be pulled up • Single SRI rice plants required 53 kg for uprooting

16. Tillering is greatly increased • 30 tillers per plant are fairly easy to achieve • 50 tillers per plant are quite attainable • With really good use of SRI, individual plants can have 100 fertile tillers or even more Because no set back due to early transplanting and no die back of roots • Maximum tillering occurs concurrently with panicle initiation • With SRI positive correlation is found between the number of panicles per plant and number of grains per panicle

22. Rice plant • Everybody believe that Rice is an aquatic plant and grows best in standing water • Rice is not an aquatic plant, it can survive in water but does not thrive under hypoxic conditions • Rice plants spends lot of its energy to develop air pockets (aerenchyma tissue) in its roots under continuous inundation • 70% of Rice root tips get degenerated by flowering period • Under SRI paddy fields are not flooded but keep the soil moist during vegetative phase • SRI requires only about half as much water as normally applied in irrigated rice

23. Conventional system with more water

24. Intermittent wetting and drying and Aeration

25. SIX MECHANISMS AND PROCESSES FOR SRI • EARLY TRANSPLANTING • seedlings 8-12 days old, • when plant has only • two small leaves,before • fourth phyllochron • 2. CAREFUL TRANSPLANTING • Minimize trauma in transplanting • Remove plant from nursery with the • seed, soil and roots carefully and • place it in the field without plunging • too deep into soil • More tillering potential • More root growth potential • More tillering potential

29. After 12 days in nursery the plant height is 7.7 inches (18.8cm) Length of main root is 5 inches (12.7 cm) 4 leaves 8 small roots

34. Diagram of possible stalks of a rice shoot stalks grow following a regular cycle (phyllochron)

35. Contd.. • WIDE SPACING • plant single seedlings, • not in clumps, and in • a square pattern, not rows, • 25cm x 25cm or wider • 4. WEEDING AND AERATION • needed because no standing water; use simple mechanical “rotating hoe” that churns up soil; 2 weedings required, with 4 recommended before panicle initiation; first weeding 10 days after transplanting • More root growth potential • More root growth, due to reduced weed competition, and aeration of soil, giving roots more oxygen and N due to increased microbial activity we left in soil; can add 1+tons per weeding? Each additional weeding after two rounds results in increased productivity up to 2 t/ha/weeding

37. Contd.. • WATER MANAGEMENT • regular water applications to • keep soil moist but not saturated, • with intermittent dryings,alternating • aerobic and anaerobic soil conditions • COMPOST/FYM • applied instead of or in addition to • chemical fertilizer; 10 tons/ha; • More root growth because avoids root degeneration able to acquire more and more varied nutrients from the soil • More plant growth because of better soil health and structure, and more balanced nutrient supply

39. Green Manure crop (Sunhemp)

40. Crop residues

41. Crop residues

42. Nursery Management • Seed rate 2 kg/ac • Nursery area 1 cent/ac • Select healthy seed • Pre-sprouted seeds are sown on raised nursery bed • Prepare nursery bed like garden crops • Apply a layer of fine manure • Spread sprouted seed sparcely • Cover with another layer of manure • Mulch with paddy straw • Water carefully • Banana leaf sheath may be used for easy lifting and transport of seedlings

44. Main fieldpreparation • Land preparation is not different from regular irrigated rice cultivation • Levelling should be done carefully so that water can be applied very evenly • At every 3 m distance form a canal to facilitate drainage • With the help of a marker draw lines both way at 25 x 25 cm apart and transplant at the intersection

45. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI IN COASTAL AREA YIELD( Kg/ha)

46. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI IN TELANGANA AREA YIELD( Kg/ha)

47. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI IN RAYALASEEMA YIELD( Kg/ha)

48. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI REPORTED BY DOA YIELD( Kg/ha)

49. Performance of SRI in AP- Kharif 2003

50. Performance of SRI in AP- Kharif 2003 (Trials organized by State DOA) No. of trials - 69 Average SRI yield (t/ha) - 8.36 Control (t/ha) - 4.89 State average productivity (t/ha) - 3.87 5 districts averaged over 10 t/ha