Oral Presentation 17 by Masood Ali at the International Conference on Pulses in Marrakesh, Morocco, 18-20 April 2016

1. Rice fallows- An opportunity for
horizontal expansion of pulses
Masood Ali, SS Singh
Ashutosh Sarker and S K Agrawal
ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research
Kanpur
International Centre for Agricultural Research in
the Dry Areas

2. • Introduction
• Distribution of rice fallows
• Bio-physical and production constraints
• Research & developmental efforts
• Technologies in shelf
• Recommendations

3. • Low-land, mono-
cropped rice under
rainfed eco-system
• Remain fallow during
winter due to
inadequate moisture
/excessive moisture
in surface soil at
planting time of
winter crops

4. Assam
Jharkhand
Eastern Region
s
Central Region
Costal Peninsula
Rice fallows in India
(11.65 million ha)
Eastern Region : 5.7 m ha
Hot dry sub-humid, cool winter,
poor drainage, deep Alluvial ,
mod. calcareous (1200-1700 mm
rainfall)
Central Region : 4.4 m ha
Dry/moist sub-humid, silty clay-
clay, 1200-1600 mm rainfall,
cool winter
Coastal region: 0.48 m ha
Dry sub-humid, mild winter, bi-
modal rains (1000-1200 mm),
soils mod. alkaline

5. Bio-physical and production
constraints in Rice Fallows
A. Bio-physical
•Rainfed ecology
•High run-off and low moisture storage
•Water stagnation/excessive moisture in coastal
region and low residual moisture in central region
•Hard soils after puddle rice, develops cracks
•Low organic matter content
•Terminal drought & heat stresses

6. B. Production constraints
•Narrow window for planting
•Lack of short duration and high yielding varieties
•Poor plant stand (poor soil-seed contact in relay sowing)
•No use of fertilizers/chemicals
•Severe weed infestation including parasitic weeds
•High incidence of diseases: powdery mildew- urdbean
and mungbean, rust- lentil, wilt complex - chickpea
•Moisture stress and terminal drought

7. C. Socio-economic constraints
•Resource-poor farmers
•Lack of credit and market infrastructure
•Non-availability of critical inputs
•Scarcity of human labours after rice harvest
(migration to urban areas)
•Lack of mechanization/ draft power
•Stray cattle

8. Poor plant population in relay sowing

9. Stray animals and un-controlled grazing-a
social problem
Blue Bull
menace

10. Planting system in rice fallows
Relay After rice harvest

11. Rice-lentil
Rice-Grasspea
Rice-Urdbean/Mungbean
Rice-pulse relay cropping

12. International
• ICRISAT: Enhancing chickpea production in rainfed rice fallow land
of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, 2008
• ICARDA: Expanding lentil production in Eastern and North-eastern
states under rice based production system in India, 2010
• ICARDA: Enhancing grasspea production in Eastern and North-
eastern states under rice based production system in India, 2010
• OFID-ICARDA: Enhancing pulse production through intensification
of rice fallows with pulse as a second crop, 2013, Nepal, Bangladesh
R & D Efforts

13. Lentil grown in Rice-fallow
Kamrup Manipur

14. Improved v/s local varieties of grasspea across project
sites (2013-14 and 2014-15)
955.134
1356.25
1193.5
437.5
707.8
1033
835.5
201
44.61 32.85
92.5
118.25
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Nirmal Ratan Prateek Mahateora
Demonstration yield (Kg/ha) Farmers’ practice (Kg/ha) % increase

15. Yield advantage in lentil over farmers’ practice across project sites
(2013-14 and 2014-15)
1354
1032.5
1123
1161.6
996
1135.165
1109
678
706.5
746 753.3 729 713.5
769
60.86 47.39 52.13 54.05 35.37
59.96 44.2
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Moitree KLS-218 IPL-406 HUL-57 PL-6 PL-8 PL-7
Demonstration yield (Kg/ha) Farmers’ practice (Kg/ha) % increase

16. Glimpses of capacity development
No. of capacity development Male Female Total
211 7105 1699 8804

17. National:
• All India Coordinated Pulse Improvement Project, 1967
• AICRP on Mungbean, Urdbean, Lentil, Lathyrus, Rajmash
(French bean) and Peas, 1995
• Mitigating abiotic stresses and enhancing resource-use
efficiency in pulses in rice fallows , 2010
• National Food Security Mission, 2007
• Brainstorming meeting on rice fallows, 2013
• Strategy workshop on pulses-April 2016
Research & Developmental
Efforts

18. CONVENER
Masood Ali
Co- CONVENERS
Sajeev Gupta
A Sarker

19. Technologies in shelf
 Short duration and disease resistant varieties
 Green manuring and application of FYM in rice crop
 Zero-till drill
 Enhanced seed rate under relay cropping
 Seed priming
 Seed treatment (Rhizobium and fungicides)
 Management of rice stubbles

20. Contd….
 Spray post- emergence herbicides
 Seed coating with micronutrients
 Foliar spray of 2% urea/DAP
 Adoption of suitable IPM module
 Water harvesting (farm ponds, community
reservoirs) and recycling (sprinkler)

21. Potential pulse crops identified for rice-fallows
in different states of India
Pulse crops States
Lentil Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand
Grass pea Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal
Chickpea Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand
Mungbean Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka
Urdbean Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha

22. Rice ratoon extracts 20-25 % of soil moisture over non-ratoon
Ratoon rice

23. Spray Quizolofop- N- ethyl
(post-emergence) herbicide
Interventions to avoid regeneration
Low ratooning rice line
(IET 4786)

24. Characteristics of crop varieties
• Early seedling vigor
• Early maturity
• Small seed size
• Resistant/tolerant to key diseases
• Drought and heat tolerance
• Amenable to mechanical harvesting

25. Improved Varieties
Lentil:
HUL 57, moitree, NDL 1,
Pant L 8, Pant L 6, IPL 81,
KLS 218
Urdbean:
LBG 17, LBG 402, LBG
623, KU 301, TU 94-2
Chickpea:
BG 372, PG 186, JG 315,
JG 16, JG 14
Mungbean:
LGG 450, Pusa 9072,
Pairymung, TM 96-2.
TARM 1
Grasspea:
Ratan, Prateek,
Mahateora

26. Soaking seeds in water for 6-8 hrs and
sowing of primed seed at 8-10 days before harvest of rice
Improves germination, growth,
plant stand and yield
Seed Priming- a simple and effective practice in
relay cropping
Further refinement
•Soaking seeds in
KH2PO4 solution
•Sowing methods for primed
seed under minimum tillage
•Optimum seed rate

27. Further refinement
• Formulation with
micronutrients, growth
hormones and PGPR
•Seed pellets with nutrients
Foliar Nutrition- a low cost effective intervention
Effective in both under relay
cropping or zero tillage system
• Spray of 2% urea/ DAP @ pre-flowering stage

28. Quizalofop @ 100g/ha for rice stubble management
Use of herbicides- an important intervention
Imazethapyr @ 50g/ha at 2-4 leaf stage for seasonal weeds

29. 20 cm rice stubbleResidue removal Mulching
Planting lentil after harvest of rice crop
0-5 cm 5-10 cm 10-15 cm
Moisture extraction pattern under stubble
management in lentil

30. Significant yield gain due to life saving irrigation
with minimal amount of water (2.0 cm) under
severe moisture stress in rice fallow pulses
Water harvesting and life saving irrigation
Life saving irrigation through sprinkler system

31. Mechanization
(A)Opening furrow, placing fertilizer, seeds and covering of seeds
(B) Manual furrow opener (C) Manually operated IIPR No- Till Drill
(D) Tractor Operated Happy Seeder

32. Drainage channel 30 x 30 cm around the field
Avoid water stagnation in Rice fallows ( provision
for Proper drainage)

33. Recommendations
• Disaggregated mapping of rice fallows
• Consolidation of R & D activities
• Pilot projects
• System approach
• Development of short duration, high yielding and
disease resistant varieties having tolerance to
terminal drought and heat stress
• Scaling-up crop management practices
• Rural credit and market
I. R & D Issues

34.  Public awareness
 Creation of community water reservoirs
 Solar energy operated shallow tube wells
 Creation of seed hubs
 Mechanization of field operation
 Rural credit
 Road and marketing infrastructure
 Legislation for containing menace of blue bulls
II. Policy issues

35. Pulses in Rice
fallows…….
……..brings Prosperity
& Sustainability

36. Assessing optimum soil moisture for relay
sowing

37. Reasons for fallows
 Rainfed/ Lack of irrigation
 Highly variable and inadequate monsoonal rains; very
low probability of winter rains
 Low soil moisture in surface layer after harvest of rice
 Water stagnation/excessive moisture in
November/December

38.  Soil compaction and cracks in Vertisols
 Cultivation of long duration rice varieties
 Lack of appropriate varieties of winter
crops for late planting
 Lack of public awareness, R & D efforts
and policy support
 Stray cattle
Cont.….

39. Rice fallows in India
State Kharif-rice
area ('000 ha)
Rabi-fallow
('000 ha)
Rice-fallow area as
% of kharif rice area
% of total rabi-
fallow area
Andhra Pradesh 2657 305 11.5 2.6
Assam 2234 539 24.1 4.6
Bihar 5974 2196 36.8 18.9
Karnataka 984 182 18.5 1.6
Madhya Pradesh 5596 4382 78.3 37.6
Maharashtra 1762 629 35.7 5.4
Orissa 3879 1219 31.4 10.5
Uttar Pradesh 6255 353 5.6 3.0
West Bengal 4617 1719 37.2 14.8
Others 2378 128 5.4 0.4
Total 40,184 11,652 29.0 100.0

40. Selection of appropriate variety of rice
and pulses

41. Timely sowing under relay
cropping

42. Mulching / complete soil cover