Direct Seeded Rice as Resource Efficient Technology

Abstract

In Asia, seedlings are typically transplanted into puddled soil to cultivate rice (Oryza sativa L.). Due of the manpower, water, and energy requirements of this manufacturing system, it is becoming less lucrative as these resources become more scarce. Additionally, it impairs the soil's physical qualities, negatively impacts the performance of succeeding upland crops, and increases methane emissions. Different issues, such as a declining water table, a manpower shortage during peak seasons, and worsening soil quality, need the use of alternate establishment techniques to maintain both natural resource and rice yield. Due to its low input requirement, ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and ability to adjust to climatic hazards, the direct seeded rice (DSR) technique has gained a lot of attention and popularity in recent years. Dry seed must be sown into a ready seedbed, while pre-germinated seed must be sown into standing water and puddles of soil. Many farmers have switched from transplanted to DSR culture as a result of the introduction of early maturing cultivars, the application of effective fertiliser management techniques, and increased adoption of integrated weed management strategies. In certain industrialised nations, such the USA, Australia, Japan, China, and Korea, DSR technology is heavily mechanised. By switching from conventional rice to DSR, crop water requirements, soil organic matter turnover, improved nutrient management, carbon sequestration, weed management, greenhouse gas emissions, and crop intensification will all be significantly reduced. The transition from PTR to DSR is hampered by a number of factors, including a high weed infestation, the development of weedy rice, an increase in soil-borne diseases (nematodes), nutritional disorders, poor crop establishment, lodging, the prevalence of blast, brown leaf spot, etc. By addressing these limitations, DSR may show to be a very viable, economically and technically viable substitute for PTR.