Sustainable Rice Production

SUMMARY OF GREEN RICE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY EBTI-SUSTAINABLE HIGH-TECH PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES (EBTI-SHTRPT) World rice production nearly doubled from the 1960s to the 1980s due to ‘Green Revolution’. After the wide spread of the ‘‘Green Revolution” throughout irrigated paddy fields in Asia, however, the rice yield increase has slackened, reflected by the decline in the annual rate of rice yield increase from 2.7% in the 1980s to 1.1% in the 1990s.Rice (OryzasativaL.) is the foremost staple food for more than 50% of the world’s population.It is estimated that by the year 2025, the world’s farmers should be producing about 60% more rice than at present to meet the food demands of the expected world population at that time. In such a situation, EBTI-Sustainable High-Tech Production Technologies (EBTI-SHTRPT), which is a low-cost and high yielding system, might be a sustainable alternative to conventional Paddy production.EBTI-SHTRPTproposes the use of single youngseedlings, drastically reduced plant densities, keeping fields unflooded, use of a mechanical weeder which also aerates the soil, and enhanced soil organic matter. India provides around 21% of global rice production from its 28% of the world’s rice area. Over half of its rice area is irrigated, contributing 75% of the total production. Notably, this area also consumes 50-60% of the nation’s finite freshwater resources.Of the country’s 1.15 billion inhabitants, 70% rely on rice for at least a third of their energy requirements. India’s population is projected to grow to 1.6 billion in 2050, putting tremendous future strain on its land and water resources.In India, rice is grown mostly in two major seasons, kharif (June -October) and rabi (October – February), while in some parts it is grown throughout the year in more than two seasons. Most of the rice area and production are in the kharif season, but rice productivity in terms of yield is 57% higher in the rabiseason. During the last decade, the percent of irrigated rice area has been fluctuating around 53%, showing no appreciable increase.Rice production today faces a number of problems that threaten many rice-producing countries ability to meet the food needs of their rapidly growing populations. These constraints include pest outbreaks, diseases, soil degradation, water scarcity, conversion of rice lands for industrial use, soil salinization, and adverse soil conditions. To produce 1 kg of grain, farmers uses 3000-5000 liters of water. In Asia, more than 80% of the developed freshwater resources are used for irrigation purposes; about half of which is used for rice production.In Asia, 17 million hectare (Mha) of irrigated rice areas may experience ‘physical water scarcity’ and 22 Mha may have ‘economic water scarcity’ by 2025.India is the largest user of groundwater in the world (over a quarter of the global total); 60% of irrigated agriculture and 85% of drinking water supplies in India are dependent on groundwater extractions. Experts have estimated that by 2025, the gap between the supply of, and demand for, water for irrigation in India will be 21 billion cubic meters (BCM).To meet its food security needs, the country needs its increase its paddy production at the rate of 3.75 million tonnes per year until 2050.The paddy productivity in most states must be considerably enhanced from the current level.

• To meet future needs for food, it is essential to reduce factors used in production, such as land and water, while increasing productivity. EBTI- SHTRPT is a set of improved rice management practices based on several core components with some adjustments to local conditions.
• EBTI- SHTRPT typically involves the early transplanting of one or two seedlings (less than 15 days old) per hill, spacing them widely apart (more than 20×20 cm) and subjecting them to alternate wetting and drying (AWD)
• Along with water-saving, cost reduction, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, EBTI- SHTRPT’s potential for high yields has attracted extensive attention.
• The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) estimates that rice production needs to increase by25% over the next 25 years to meet the global demand of the next generation. However, climate impacts alone are expected to shrink the global rice supply by up to 15%.
• EBTI- SHTRPT offers farmer-friendly tools to help drive this transformation of rice supply chains. The SRP Standard for Sustainable Rice Cultivation, the world’s first voluntary sustainability standard for rice helps farmers boost their yields and incomes whilst protecting the environment.
• Today, the Standard is adopted by more than 150.000 farmers across 20+ countries worldwide. Early field studies indicate that option of the EBTI- SHTRPT Standard can deliver economic, social and environmental benefits.

Effects of Rice Management Practices on Yield-Contributing Characters

Management practice	Ave. panicle number hill-1	Panicles (m-2)	Ave.  panicle length (cm)	Spikelet number/ panicle	Filled spikelets (%)	1000-grain weight (g)
EBTI-SHTRPT	16.9	439.5	22.5	151.6	89.6	24.7
SMP	6.9	355.2	18.7	107.9	79.3	24.0
LSD.OS	3.5	61.6	2.3	12.9	5.1	0.2

  EBTI- SHTRPT VS. OTHER METHOD OF RICE CULTIVATION:

Cultivation	SRI	AWD	SRP	EBTI- SHTRPT
Land Preparation	Flood the field for 1 to 2 days, Plough the land, Water level as 2.5 cm during puddling.	Plowing to “till” or dig-up, mix, and overturn the soil; Harrowing to break the soil clods into smaller mass and incorporate plant residue, and leveling the field.	Laser leveling on flat surface; Non- invasive cover cropping, mulching on sloping; No leveling is required on dry surface.	Flood the field 1 or 2 days before ploughing and allow water to soak in. Keep the surface of the field covered with water. Enriched Bio-compost 12.5 t/ha. Sowing of Azolla ferns
Nursery Preparation	100m2/Ha. Raised beds @ 1 x 5 m and 20 beds	Dry Nursery or Wet Nursery	Raised Dry Seedbed	Raised dry seedbed (Required length (cm) x 1 cm x 15 cm)
Seed rate (kg ha-1)	5 – 7	20 – 30	30 – 50	4 – 10
Seed Treatment	Seeds treated with a fungicide like bavistin or captan @ 2g/kg and kept overnight before sowing in the nursery	Seed treatment is done by dissolving 10 g carbendazim (Bavistin) and 1g streptocycline in 10 liters of water sufficient for 10 kg seed. The soaked seed should be for 24 hours before sowing or transplanting.	Treat the seeds with talc based formulation of Bacillus subtilis or Pseudomonas 10g/kg of seed and soak in 1lit of water overnight. Decant the excess water and allow the seeds to sprout for 24hrs and then sow.	The seed is dressed with either a dry formulation or wet treated with a slurry or liquid formulation using EBTI BPᶾ – PGPR
Seedlings Treatment	Not specified	Not specified	Not specified	The seedlings are dipped with EBTI – BPᶾ (Bioprotect, Bioprevent, Bioprime) along with PGPR
Seedling age (days)	18-21	25 – 30	25 – 40	10 – 15
Plant spacing (cm)	25 X 25	Random	15 X 10	20 X 20 or 25 X 25
Number of tillers per hill	50	45	30 – 45	50 – 60
Hill number mˉ²	16-20	50 – 66	Varying	20 – 35
Seedling number hillˉ¹	Single	2 – 3	3 – 6	Single

Cultivation	SRI	AWD	SRP	EBTI- SHTRPT
Planting season	Dry season with assured irrigation	Spring and summer	Fall, winter and summer.	Fall, winter and summer.
Water management (Irrigation)	Water saving in this system is 40-50% from planting to harvest. Only moist conditions with shallow flooding and sometimes drying of field. After the vegetative stage, maintain 1-2 cm of water in the fields at the reproductive phase (panicle initiation and flowering). Water stress at this stage affects the growth of panicles and grain quality. After flowering at the milking stage, keep the soil constantly moist or with 3-5 cm water in the fields.	Irrigate and then allow the water depth to drop to 15 cm below the surface using a field water tube. Once the water level has dropped to 15 cm below the surface, re-flood the field to a depth of 5 cm above the surface and repeat.	20% saving in water use. Rainfed production system: Timely and appropriate crop establishment according to local climate. Irrigated production system— flood-prone and not flood-prone : At least one dry-down event (i.e., midseason drainage of 7 days drained period/aeration).Termination of irrigation at least 10- 15 days before harvesting.	Irrigation should depend on the soil type. Sandy loam soil requires a higher number of irrigations compared to clay or clayey loam soil. AWD irrigation is best. Also, Drip irrigation method can be adopted.
Weed management	Weeds are turned back into the field by a mechanical hand weeder. Using rotary / conoweeder in between rows in both directions at 10, 20, 30 and 40 DAT and hand removal of left out weeds.	Hand weed or mechanical weeder as needed until the canopy closes. use push weeder to control weed seedlings	The simple rotary weeder to churn up the soil, minimize weed growth and promote soil aeration at least 2 times.	For mechanical weeding, there should be 3-4 inches of water in the fields, and the first weeding should be done 2 weeks after transplanting.
Intercultivation	Weeder is used 3-4 times in between rows in both directions (perpendicular)	No	Preventative weed control methods are used, before considering curative methods.	The farmer should repeat another wedding 15-20 days after the first weeding.
Integrated Nutrient management	Emphasis on more application of organic manures; sometimes Integrated nutrient management	The fertilizers and organic manures may be applied based on available soil nutrients after the soil tests	Timing and amount of fertilizer (inorganic and/or organic; N, P, and/or K) application is according to plant requirement and knowledge on soil fertility	Reduction of chemical fertilizer (Urea) usage. Efficient and site-specific Bio- nutrient management is applied. For maintaining soil organic carbon, texture, structure,  and conditioning, humic acid, EM solution are used.
*SRI – System of Rice Intensification; AWD – Alternate Wetting and Drying; SRP – Sustainable Rice Production; EBTI-SHTRPT-  Sustainable High-Tech Production Technologies

HIGHLIGTHS OF EBTI – INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT: EBTI-SHTRPT Technology of NCUDP after blending with EBTI custom designed oil, act upon slow release of Nitrogen. This is a very inefficient practice, with 60 to 70 percent of the nitrogen applied being lost, and contributes to GHG emissions and water pollution. In the NCUDP technique, urea is made into “briquettes” of 1 to 3 grams that are placed at 7 to 10 cm soil depth after the paddy is transplanted. This technique decreases nitrogen losses by 40 percent and increases urea efficiency to 50 percent. It increases yield by 25 percent with an average 25 percent decrease in urea use. Farmers’ incomes have increased thanks to both increased yields and reduced fertilizers’ costs. Jobs have been created locally in small enterprises, often owned by women, to make the briquettes. CARBON EQUIVALENT EMISSIONS FROM PADDY FIELD:

Factors	Conventional method	EBTI-SHTRPT System
	Kg CO2 equivalent/ha	Kg CO2 equivalent/ha
Fertiliser Production	2,664.47	657.79
Direct and Indirect field N2O	1,103.22	116.43
Paddy Methane	20,223.13	12,580.91
Pesticides	82.00	20.50
Field Energy Use	6,240.27	4,159.70
Primary Processing	94.87	94.87
Off-Farm Transport	353.65	353.65
TOTAL	30,761.61	17,983.85
Difference between methods	12,777.76
Percentage of reduction (%)	42 %

NOTE: The Biomass produced from paddy such as paddy straw, paddy husk is not considered which have additional benefit for carbon credit (CC).  (We can produce pellet from paddy straw for energy purpose [like coal fire].  The rice husk can be converted into biomass and ethanol which is not considered)