E-Paper
Punjab: New paddy cultivation method saves 25% water
The trials of seeding of rice on beds (SRB), a method said to conserving more than 25% of water in paddy cultivation, has shown “encouraging” results as paddy cultivated with this method has given yield on a par with paddy cultivated with puddling or direct seeded rice (DSR) method
The trials of seeding of rice on beds (SRB), a method said to conserving more than 25% of water in paddy cultivation, has shown “encouraging” results as paddy cultivated with this method has given yield on a par with paddy cultivated with puddling or direct seeded rice (DSR) method. “The results are very motivating because a few of the trial plots, where harvest has taken place, the yield per acre is 34-35 quintals against the average yield of 28 quintals per acre,” said former IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu, who remained secretary agriculture in Punjab and is leading the trials by different farmers at different locations in the state.
Under the SRB method, paddy is cultivated on nine-inch raised bed which is 15-inch wide with a space of 12 inches in between. According to MS Bhullar, director, extension and education, PAU, this is called aerobic cultivation where roots are not pressed into soil as in the case of paddy cultivation by transplanting paddy saplings in nine-inch deep water puddled fields.
He added that in the next season the area under the crop would be expanded. The trials are underway at seven different places across the state where the crop has been sown over 2 to 4 acres.
Punjab is staring at an environmental disaster in terms of its depleting groundwater table. Studies by different government and non-government agencies suggest that the groundwater will deplete to a level of 1,000 feet in the next 15 years and it will not be useful for irrigation purposes.
“The method of cultivating paddy on beds has a potential to save up to 25% of water used for irrigation,” said Pannu. A kilogram of rice needs about 5,000 litres of water when grown by traditional method of puddling under which saplings are transplanted in a field with water collected up to nine inches.
A team of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, visited the trial plot of paddy cultivation in Dhanasu village near Ludhiana. According to MS Bhullar, director, extension and education, PAU, the method was recommended by the university in 2022 but it never became popular. “Farmers can easily save up to 7-10% more water by cultivating paddy on beds as compared to paddy sown by DSR method,” said Bhulllar, adding that bed plantation is always a better option as it helps plants get better oxygen and nutrients availability and plant grows better.
“Since the cultivation by SRB method does not involve accumulation of water after hardening of soil surface, no dangerous methane is emitted into the environment. Additionally, it increases the percolation capacity of the soil which helps in better rainwater recharging,” added Pannu, asking farmers to adopt the method as a step forward of cultivating paddy by DSR method.
