EFFECT OF TRANSPLANTING DATE ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF RICE IN NEPAL

ABSTRACT:

Field studies have shown that early or late transplantation of particular rice varieties have resulted in reduced yield and yield components of rice due to the lack of required growth parameters. But,the rice varieties transplanted in optimum time (especially in 1st week of June) gave comparatively and significantly greater yield. Therefore, transplantation of rice should be done in appropriate time in order to achieve maximum yield of grains.

INTRODUCTION:

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), the most important staple food of the majority of people throughout the world.It feeds more than any other cereal crops. About 90% of rice is produced and consumed in Asia, where irrigated and rainfed rice ecosystems forms the mainstay of food security. Similarly, rice is the number one crop in terms of cultivated area, production, consumption and contribution to the national economy of Nepal. It contributes about 7% to national GDP and 20% to AGD. It fulfills more than 50% of the calorie requirement of Nepalese people. It constitutes 79% carbohydrate, 7-8% protein, 2-2.5% oil , 0.8% fibre and 5.9% ash. It is also a rich source of Vitamin B complex. It also supports a lot in promoting animal husbandry and industries by providing raw materials necessary to run them. However, it has not been able to reach the approximate efficiency of production in comparison to other countries as till now Nepalese are following the traditional system of farming in this era of modern tools and technologies. Production is decreasing day by day due to the lack of improved production technology packages. Transplanting date is the one among various production technology packages that plays a vital role in growth and yield of rice. Appropriate transplanting date of high yielding varieties of rice is very important for obtaining maximum yield of rice.

FACTORS INFLUENCING TRANSPLANTING DATE OF RICE:

1.Availability of water:

In our country Nepal, majority of farmers are dependent on rainfed water for the cultivation of rice due to the lack of proper management and availability of irrigation facility throughout the country. Every year due to varying climatic factors, there is fluctuation in the time of rainfall during monsoon season too. Sometimes rainfall occur too early or too late and sometimes there is drought in the season of rice cultivation. As the farmers are dependent on rain water, they transplant the rice on the basis of availability of rain water due to which the optimum time get fluctuated that results in reduced growth and yield of rice.

2.Poor government strategies and poor supply of inputs:

Due to the lack of proper management of agricultural resource management, farmers can’t get proper quality of seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, etc at right place at right time that causes delay in the time of seeding and hence affecting the transplanting date.

3.Labor shortage and poor access to mechanization:

Majority of the economy of Nepalese have been supported by agriculture but also they don’t want to involve in it because they think it of a low prestigious business. Hence, they decide to go abroad rather than working in the field from which they can earn even more than working in abroad and labor crisis have occurred in our country. As Nepalese are going through traditional practices that requires much labor to complete the work on time, non availability of labourers for transplanting at appropriate time leads to delay in transplanting that causes considerable reduction in yield.

4.Lack of technical knowledge and awareness:

Farmers of our country are not skilled enough to run and adopt modern tools and techniques due to the lack of technical knowledge. They are following the traditional system of farming which is not the demand of this modern era. Different transplanting methods and supporting technologies have been discovered about which they are completely unknown. They are adopting modern tools and technologies ,varieties of rice but are running in their own traditional way that also causes to fluctuate the appropriate time of transplanting. Besides, they don’t have patience for right time and transplant rice even the seedlings are not ready to transplant by seeing others.

5.Heavy rainfall:

Heavy rainfall during monsoon causes flooding and landslide that destroys and degrades the land structure which is not suitable enough for transplanting of rice. Its maintenance and recovery needs time that directly affects the transplanting date of rice.

EFFECTS OF TRANSPLANTING DATE ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF RICE:

Planting date is a very crucial factor in yield formation. Every crops have suitable transplanting time so do rice have too (especially 1st week of June).Transplanting at optimum time reduces the grain sterility as it leads to 100% flowering of rice and all the required growth parameters get fulfilled at that time resulting in high yield and yield components. But, delay in transplanting of rice results in shorter days to flower, crop maturity and plant height that ultimately decreases the yield of grains. Similarly, early transplanted rice takes prolonged days to flower, crop maturity and taller plants height. That might be due to sufficient time to crop stays in the field which facilitates the plants to improve the photosynthesis . However, number of panicles and grains are proved to be more in appropriate time transplanted rice in comparison to earlier one due to the availability of favorable temperature during panicle and grain initiation period which in turn gives greater yield of rice.

MEASURES TO MAINTAIN APPROPRIATE TRANSPLANTING DATE OF RICE:

-Uniform distribution of irrigation facility should be managed in each and every part of the country so that the farmers don’t have to depend only on rain water for the cultivation of rice.

-Governments strategies regarding agriculture should be sufficient and effective enough to reach and access all the inputs at correct place and correct time.

-Let agriculture be a prestigious business conducting various youth attracting programs,farmer oriented programs, subsidy, loan, farm registration etc.

-Farmers awareness programmes should be conducted and must be provided with technical trainings regarding modern tools and technologies and improved production technology packages by extension workers.

-Farmers should be introduced with the effects of early and late transplanting dates in yield and growth of rice so that they can maintain their patience level and don’t attempt to mitigate others.

CONCLUSION:

No farmer invest to be in loss. Transplanting date is the one of the very crucial factor that determines the yield of their investment. As transplanting dates have significant effect on growth conditions of rice, farmers must take due consideration in the appropriate transplanting date of high yielding varieties of rice to get high yield and its components. And government should provide all possible supports and efforts to the farmers in order to maintain agriculture harmony in the country.

Writer: Laxmi Chaudhary (Student, Bsc. Ag IAAS Paklihawa Campus)