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| System of Rice Intensification (SRI) |
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System of Rice Intensification (SRI) emerged in the 1980’s as a synthesis of locally advantageous rice production practices encountered in Madagascar by Fr Henri de Laulanie, a Jesuit Priest who had been working there since 1961. But, it is Dr. Norman Uphoff from Cornell International Institute for Food and Agriculture, Ithaca,
USA, who had brought this method to the notice of outside world in the late 1990s. Today SRI is being adopted in many states in India and the response from farmers has been overwhelming seeing the benefits of the method, notwithstanding the
constraints.
SRI is a combination of several practices those include changes in nursery management, time of transplanting, water and weed management. Its different way of cultivating rice crop though the fundamental practices remain more or less same like in the conventional method; it just emphasizes altering of certain agronomic practices of the conventional way of rice cultivation. All these new practices are together known as System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI is not a fixed package of technical specifications, but a system of production with four main components, viz., soil fertility management, planting method, weed control and water (irrigation) management. Several field practices have been developed around these components. Of them, the key cultural practices followed in most cases are: |
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Preparing high-quality land
SRI requires careful leveling and raking, with drainage facilitated by 30 cm wide channels at two-meter intervals across the field.
Preferring compost or farmyard manure to synthetic fertilizers
It is better to use organic nutrients, as they are better at promoting the abundance and diversity of microorganisms, starting with beneficial bacteria and fungi in the soil. This will promote proper microbial activity, thereby improving production.
Developing nutrient-rich and un-flooded nurseries
The seedbeds have to be nutrient-rich and established as close to the main field as possible. This will enable quicker and easier transportation between the nurseries and the fields, minimizing both transport time and costs so that the seedlings are efficiently transplanted.
Using young seedlings for early transplantation
This has to take place when the seedlings are just 8 to 12 days old, soon after they have two leaves, and at least before the 15th day after sowing.
Ensuring wider spacing between seedlings
The seedlings should be planted at precise spacing, usually 25 X 25 cm2, about 16 plants per square meter. Rice plant roots and canopies grow better if spaced widely, rather than densely.
Transplanting the seedlings singly
The seedlings must be transplanted singly with their roots intact, while the seed sac is still attached. They must not be plunged too deep into the soil, but placed at 1-2 cm on the ground at the appropriate point on the planting grid.
Frequent intercultivation with weeder
A manual weeder is to be operated perpendicularly in both directions in between the hills within 10 to 12 days of transplantation, and at intervals of 10-12 days afterwards. This operation not only controls the weeds but churns the soil which causes a lot of changes in the soil which favours better growth of the crop.
Managing water carefully so that the plants’ root zones moisten, but are not continuously submerged
SRI requires the root zone to be kept moist, not submerged. Water applications can be intermittent, leaving plant roots with sufficiency, rather than surfeit of water. Rice grown under SRI has larger root system, profuse and strong tillers with big panicles and well-filled spikelets with higher grain weight. The rice plants develop about 30 – 80 tillers and the yields are reported to be higher. The secret behind this is that rice plants do best when young seedlings are transplanted carefully at wider spacing; their roots grow larger on soil that is kept well aerated with abundant and diverse soil microorganisms. |
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