Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)

Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)

Subject: Agriculture

Section: Irrigation

Context: The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), which is known for saving water.

How much water is required to grow one kg rice?

• Paddy is non-shelled rice that farmers grow and sell in mandis and then after milling paddy rice is prepared.
• According to the studies by Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, around 3,600 litres to 4,125 litres of water is required to grow one kg rice depending upon the paddy variety.
• Long duration varieties consume more water. In Punjab, 32% of the area is under the long duration (around 158 days) paddy varieties, and the rest comes under paddy varieties that take 120 to 140 days to grow.

How much water can DSR help save?

• According to an analysis by the PAU, DSR technique can help save 15% to 20% water.
• In some cases, water saving can reach 22% to 23%.
• With DSR, 15-18 irrigation rounds are required against 25 to 27 irrigation rounds in traditional methods.

What is dsr technology?

• In DSR, the pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.
• There is no nursery preparation or transplantation involved in this method.
• Farmers have to only level their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation.

Traditional methods of rice transplantation

• In transplanting paddy, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants.
• The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be transplanted.
• These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the puddled field.

Benefits of DSR technology:

• DSR (direct seeding of rice) does not require a puddling process as well as stagnant water in the field at least for three weeks after sowing.
• DSR can solve labour shortage problems because like the traditional method it does not require a paddy nursery and transplanting of 30 days old paddy nursery into the main puddled field. With DSR, paddy seeds are sown directly with machine.
• DSR offers avenues for ground water recharge as it prevents the development of hard crust just beneath the plough layer due to puddled transplanting
• It matures 7-10 days earlier than the puddle transplanted crop, therefore giving more time for management of paddy straw.
• Research trials and farmers’ field surveys have indicated that yield yieldin DSR, are one to two quintals per acre higher than puddled transplanted rice.