1. What is SRI ?
The SRI is an alternative to the traditional way of flooded rice cultivation and is showing promise in addressing the problems of water scarcity, high energy usage and environmental degradation. SRI involves few major components viz., using younger seedlings, square planting, irrigation by alternate wetting and drying, weeding though cono/rotary weeder, LCC based N management.
2. What are the benefits of SRI ?
Improved productivity.
Less water requirement.
More income.
Reduced cost of cultivation.
3. What is the seed rate for SRI ?
7- 8 kg for single seedling per hill.
12 -15 kg for two seedlings per hill wherever difficulty in establishment of rice is seen.
4. I would like to know the transplanting technique for SRI ?
1-2 seedlings of 15 days old.
Square planting of 22.5 x 22.5 cm (9 x 9 inch).
Fill up the gaps between 7th and 10th DAT.
Transplant within 30 minutes of pulling out of seedlings.
There may be difficulty in crop establishment in areas with heavy downpour (North East Monsoon periods of Tamil Nadu).
5. What is the irrigation management technique for SRI ?
Irrigation only to moist the soil in the early period of 10 days.
Restoring irrigation to a maximum depth of 2.5cm after development of hairline cracks in the soil until panicle initiation.
Increasing irrigation depth to 5.0cm after PI one day after disappearance of ponded water.
6. How can I control weeds in SRI technique ?
Using rotary weeder / Cono weeder.
Moving the weeder with forward and backward motion to bury the weeds and as well to aerate the soil at 7-10 days interval from 10-15 days after planting on either direction of the rows and column.
Manual weeding is also essential to remove the weeds closer to rice root zone.
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