Short duration rice varieties

Climatic Vulnerability:

Dhubri district experiences a warm humid climate. Monsoon usually starts from June and continues up to early September. The district also experiences substantial amount of pre-monsoon rain starting from April. The average annual rainfall is about 2233 mm. Flood is the major constraint affecting productivity of rice in the village of Udmari Part IV & V.

Interventions

Promotion of varieties tolerant to submergence:

Rice is the most important crop of Udmari part IV & V villages under Bilasipara sub-division of Dhubri district, Assam. Floods affect kharif rice during July-August and sometimes do not allow farmers to transplant rice seedlings in time resulting in very low yields. Double transplanting with traditional/improved varieties, adoption of traditional late Sali varieties like ‘Panisali’, ‘Goyaswari’, ‘Malchira’ etc and delayed sowing/transplanting with traditional late Sali varieties are some coping strategies adopted by farmers under adverse situations. During kharif 2011, interventions were made in the farmers’ fields to popularize some situation specific rice varieties which can suitably be grown in flood affected areas. The main characteristics of these varieties are:

1. Submergence tolerant varieties ‘Jalashree’ and ‘Jalkuwari’ can tolerate 12 to 15 days water submergence once seedlings are established.
2. Staggered planting variety ‘Gitesh’ can be transplanted with 30 to 60 days-old seedlings
3. Short duration varieties ‘Luit’ and ‘Kolong’ (105 days) can be transplanted up to last part of August and also suitable for direct seeding with sprouted seeds if there is no time for nursery raising. These varieties are suitable for post-flood as well as pre-flood situation.

Simultaneously, seed production programme was also initiated with submergence tolerant variety ‘Jalashree’, staggered planting variety ‘Gitesh’ and short duration variety ‘Luit’ for pre- and post-flood situation to ensure supply of quality seed in the farmers’ field. Adoption of these varieties gave about 50 to 60% higher grain yield than the existing varieties. About 15% farm families have adopted these varieties to cope with climatic variability in the village.

Performance of situation-specific rice varieties in the farmers’ fields (kharif 2011)

Crop Production during Summer:

Paddy cultivation during summer is gaining more emphasis due to crop failure during kharif season.  However, traditional rice varieties produce low yields and harvesting of these varieties is difficult due to floods and lodging. Hence, HYV of summer rice 'Joymoti' was promoted for cultivation. The HYV performed better in farmers' fields and gave 21% higher yield than local varieties and a net return of Rs.19,000/ha. In additional, SRI method of rice cultivation was promoted for saving irrigation water and enhancing yields of summer rice. SRI method saved about 40% waster, gave 29% higher yield (5.4 t/ha and a net return of Rs.21,000/ha. Similarly, HYV of toria 'TS-36' was introduced for replacing local varieties. The variety produced 62% higher yield than local varieties and gave a net return of Rs.20,400/ha.

Fish management during floods: 

Escape of cultured fish and entry of predatory fish during flood were restricted by placement of nylon net at desired height along the periphery of pond dykes and through renovation of dykes. For management of fish pond during post-flood condition, interventions such as liming in fish pond, de-weeding and application of potassium permanganate as disinfectant were also made which helped in maintaining water quality and productivity improvement. Similarly, restocking in some selected fish ponds helped to compensate the loss of fishes during flood.

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