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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Rice is the major food crop grown in an area of 14 lakh ha during kharif, with an average productivity of 3, 277 kg ha-1 in Telangana state. Shortage of agricultural labour coupled with high labour cost are making the rice cultivation non-profitable. Uncertain monsoonal rains, and low discharge rate of borewells leading to late transplantion of paddy with aged seedlings which in turn results in reduced yield and increased incidence of pests and diseases. Under these circumstances, field trials were conducted with an objective to reduce the cost of cultivation and increase the resource use efficiency sowing of paddy with 8 row drum seeder for 4 consecutive years during the kharif season from 2010 to 2013 in farmers field (On farm trials) in Telangana state. The data pertaining to yield and yield attributes were recorded. The results revealed that number of tillers per m2,number of productive tillers per m2, no of grains per panicle, test weight and grain are significantly more with drum seeding rice compared to transplanting. The cost benefit ratio was also found to be high with direct sowing with drum seeder compared to transplanting during all the four years. The weed population and weed density, though more in drum seeder rice than the transplanted rice, the problem was effectively managed with the pre and post emergence herbicides. On an average, the drum seeder sown crop come to harvesting 10 days earlier than the transplanted rice in all the locations during all the four seasons. Based on the results of the on farm trials and the feedback received from the farmers it was concluded that direct sowing of paddy with 8 row drum seeder was found to be a viable option for the farmers to go for paddy cultivation in the event of uncertain monsoon, increased cost of cultivation and labour shortage besides resource optimization in Telangana state.