Author(s):

Mukesh Kumar Pandey, Ajay Verma, Aditya Sirmaur and Ajay Dwivedi

Abstract: Chhattisgarh comes under dry and sub humid climate. The success or failure in rice production is directly related to the economy of the farmers of the state. Due to uncertainty about the rainfall and limited resources farmers always faced problem to which rice cultivation method they have to adopt. Shortage or excess rainwater in the field permits very limited time to prepare the field. Presently in Chhattisgarh, about 75 per cent area is under broadcasting, 15-17 percent under transplanting and 8-10 per cent area is covered by direct drilling method of rice seeding. The effect of method of seeding rice during Kharif, in general, has great impact on field preparation and establishment of succeeding Rabi crop after the harvest of rice. The state has about 45 per cent land under inceptisols and vertisols, where rice is being grown which retain sufficient moisture and even saturation is observed some times in normal rainfall year. However, in drought years moisture is insufficient and crop suffers from moisture stress at maturity stage of rice. Harvesting of rice at 40-45 days after flowering is the general trend in this region. The unavailability of labour due to harvesting at similar time throughout the state creates manpower scarcity which delays the harvesting of rice. The delay in harvesting causes evaporation loss of soil moisture from 8-10 cm layer of upper surface of the soil. Further, the poor draught power of animals and indigenous tillage implements fail to prepare field to a good tilth in time. At present, the cropping intensity is hardly 133 per cent in the state, which can be increased significantly by timely harvesting and seeding of some high valued and less water requiring crop like chickpea (Alam, 1998). Zero tillage or minimum tillage practice facilitates timely and uniform seeding which results into higher germination and better crop stand.

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