Rice Plantation and its Growth

As such, the rice production cycle is divided into 3 distinct stages. These are pre-planting, growth and post-production. In one of our previous blogs, we thoroughly discussed the initial stage of rice production, i.e. the pre-planting process.

As such, the rice production cycle is divided into 3 distinct stages. These are pre-planting, growth and post-production. In one of our previous blogs, we thoroughly discussed the initial stage of rice production, i.e. the pre-planting process.

With this blog, we’d now move to the next step of rice production process, which is the growth stage. The rice growth stage includes 5 different processes. These are:

  • Rice plantation
  • Water management
  • Managing nutrients
  • Weed control
  • Disease and pest management

 

1. Rice Planting

Rice planting begins once the land has been prepared. As such, in rice farming, 4 different methods of cultivation exist.

These are mentioned as follows:

    • Direct seeding or broadcasting: Broadcasting involves sowing the seeds directly by hand and is suitable for areas with infertile soil and dry land.

 

    • Transplanting: Practiced where the soil fertility is optimum, transplanting is the most popular seed establishing method. It involves the transfer of pre-germinated seedlings from seedbed to the main field.

 

    • Drilling: Confined to peninsular locations, this method only requires 2 persons; one for ploughing land and the other for planting seeds.

 

  • Japanese technique: The Japanese method requires seeds to be sown on raised nursery beds which should further be transplanted in rows. It requires timely fertigation, i.e. injecting fertilizers and other chemicals into the soils, and weeding and is only used for high-yield rice varieties.

 

2. Water Management

Everyone involved in the process of rice production knows that rice of extremely sensitive to water shortage. Generally, rice is grown in fields that are continuously flooded for at least 10 days, almost a week until beginning the harvest. This is particularly important for lowland rice. This constant flooding ensures water sufficiency while controlling weeds.

Since there is a global shortage of water, it’s important to follow water management practices like constructing field channels, prepare and level land, and construct bunds.

3. Manage Nutrients

During the growth stage, rice plants require nutrients to grow and develop. Also, applying nutrients to the crop is also one of the most crucial steps for improving soil fertility and prevents nutrient imbalance in the field.

4. Weed Management

To prevent yield losses, bring down production cost and maintain grain quality, it’s fairly important to prevent and control weeds. Since weeds compete equally for sunlight, water and nutrients, it becomes all the more important to prevent them. Not just during the crop growth, weed management should be practiced during land preparation and in the nursery as well.

5. Disease and Pest Management

Weed is not the only enemy that we face during rice production; the rice plant faces a lot of foes during its growth. These are insects, rodents, viruses and diseases. On an average, each year, farmers lose about 37% of their crops to diseases and pests. It is, therefore, important for farmers to understand how pests and other enemies interact with crops and come up with necessary management practices.

They need to:

  • Clean the field and farming equipment
  • Use pest resistant varieties
  • Avoid over fertilizing
  • Implement natural pest inhibitors
  • Refrain from applying pesticides during the initial 40 days of seed planting

For detailed information on the above-mentioned steps and any other information on rice growth, rice milling and rice storage, one should contact Nextech Agri Solutions, a New Delhi based rice planting and rice milling consultant.

 

Enquire Now

The Complete Rice Production Cycle

Generally, rice plants take about 3 to 6 months to grow from seedlings to reach maturity, mostly varying according to the environmental conditions and undergo 3 distinct growth phases, which are vegetative, reproductive and ripening.
As such, rice varieties across the world are categorized into 2 groups based on their growth duration.

Generally, rice plants take about 3 to 6 months to grow from seedlings to reach maturity, mostly varying according to the environmental conditions and undergo 3 distinct growth phases, which are vegetative, reproductive and ripening.

As such, rice varieties across the world are categorized into 2 groups based on their growth duration. There is a short-duration variety maturing in 100 to 120 days and a longer when taking about 150 days.

Let’s now take a look at how rice is grown:

1. Seed Quality Analysis & Selection

To realize the yield potential, a seed must be grown, harvested and finally processed justly. Also, healthy, good-quality seeds carry the potential of increasing the yield by 20%. Some of the benefits of using good quality seeds are:
– Decreased seeding rates
– Increased crop emergence
– The decreased need for replanting
– Vigorous early growth
– Increased resistance to pests, insects and natural diseases
– Reduced weed growth

A good seed is one which is pure, i.e. coming from single variety, uniform in size, viable and free of pathogens, insects and seed-borne diseases.

2. Land Preparation

It’s mandatory to prepare the land and render it suitable for planting seeds. The soil, before planting, should be in the best physical condition if one expects an optimum plant growth. Essentially, land preparation involves plowing, digging up or harrowing to till and leveling the soil.

3. Crop Establishment

There are two common practices for planting rice seeds. These are:
– Direct seeding: Done either by hand or machine, direct seeding involves broadcasting pre-germinated/dry seeds. Generally, dry seeds are manually planted into the soil in ecosystems that are rain-fed, while pre-germinated seeds are planted in areas with dry soil.

– Transplanting: More popular of the two, transplanting involves the transfer of pre-germinated seeds from seedbed to wet fields. Although it requires less seeds and is a particularly effective method to control weeds, it is labour intensive.

4. Water & Nutrient Management

Since rice is grown in bunded fields which are flooded for up-to 10 days prior to the harvest, it’s fairly easy to determine that rice is extremely sensitive to water shortage. Contributing to this fact is its semi-aquatic ancestry. Keep in mind the following water management tips for maximum rice yields:
– Construct field channels
– Optimum land preparation
– Leveling the soil
– Construct bunds to limit any water loss

It’s also important to keep in mind that rice plant requires different nutrition at different stages. Nutrition management is a chief component of rice production.

5. Crop Health

Globally, farmers annually lose about 35% of their crops to plant diseases and pests. Rodents, insects, viruses, weeds, etc. are arch nemesis of rice plant. It’s important for rice farmers to understand how the crops interact with the pests and avoid such conditions. Certain tips that could help are:
– Land and water management
– Hand weeding
– Herbicides
– Good cleaning of farming equipments
– Pest resistant seed varieties

6. Harvest

Harvesting involves the collection of mature rice plants. AS we’ve discussed above, rice crops generally take 100 to 150 days to mature, depending on their growth duration. To minimize grain damage and for maximum yield, it’s mandatory to involve good harvesting techniques. It can be done either manually or using a combine harvester. Harvesting includes:
– Reaping
– Threshing
– Cleaning
– Hauling
– Field drying
– Stacking
– Packaging

 

Enquire Now