Good

1. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) -
“Less can Produce more”
Dr. A. SATYANARAYANA
Director of Extension
Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad

2. Modern Agriculture
 Overly Genocentric
 Productivity gains were possible with increased
use of inputs – Fertilizers, Pesticides, Water etc.
They are now giving
• Diminishing returns
• Creating environmental hazards, health risks
• Rising costs of production

3.  More productive in terms of
- Land, Labour, Water, Capital, Energy, inputs
 More environmentally benign
 More robust in the face of climate change
 More socially beneficial
- reducing poverty, greater food security
21st Century Agriculture needs to be

4. Biological power and Eco-agriculture should
be basic foundations for soil health
 Micro organisms and other soil biota as
creators and maintainers of soil fertility
 Greater attention to plants roots

5. The basic idea of SRI
Rice plants do best when their
- roots can grow large because
the plants are transplanted carefully
at wider spacing and
grown on soil that is kept well aerated
with abundant and diverse soil microorganisms

6. The contribution of soil microbial activity
need to be taken more seriously
The microbial flora causes a large number of
biochemical changes in the soil that largely
determine the fertility of soil (De Datta, 1981)

7. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) – a way out

8. SRI offers increased factor productivity of
 Land
 Labour
 Water

9. Rice is the most important food crop of India
Rice has been identified as Growth Engine under
vision 2020 of Andhra Pradesh
The area and production of rice is coming down in
recent years due to lack of sufficient water in
irrigation systems
SRI has the potential to meet the challenge by
virtue of its capacity to double or even triple the
productivity and less water requirement

10. • SRI was first developed in Madaskar during 1980’s
• Not known outside Madagaskar until 1997
• Its potential is under testing in China, Indonesia,
Combodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India
• In A.P, SRI is experimented all the 22 districts with
encouraging results
• Over 1,00,000 farmers
are experimenting with
this system world wide at
present
• Few thousands of acres
are under SRI in the
very second season in
AP

11. SRI Technology uses
Less external inputs
• Less seed (2 kg/ac)
• Fewer plants per unit area (25 x 25 cm)
• Less chemical fertilizer
• More organic manures
• Less pesticides

12. SRI is initially labour intensive
- Needs 50% more man days for transplanting and
weeding
- Mobilises labour to work for profit
- It offers an alternative to resource poor, who puts in their
family labour
- Once skills are learnt and implements are used, the
labour costs will be lesser than the present day Rice
cultivation

13. SRI encourages rice plant to grow healthy
with
 Large root volume
 Profuse and strong tillers
 Non-lodging
 Big panicle
 More and well filled spikelets and higher grain
weight
 Resists insects
Because it allows Rice to grow naturally

14. Root growth
 Root growth can be massive in response to SRI
practices
 3 hills under conventional method required 28 kg
of force to be pulled up
 Single SRI rice plants required 53 kg for uprooting

16. Tillering is greatly increased
 30 tillers per plant are fairly easy to achieve
 50 tillers per plant are quite attainable
 With really good use of SRI, individual plants can
have 100 fertile tillers or even more
Because no set back due to early transplanting
and no die back of roots
 Maximum tillering occurs concurrently with panicle
initiation
 With SRI positive correlation is found between the
number of panicles per plant and number of grains
per panicle

22. Rice plant
 Everybody believe that Rice is an aquatic plant
and grows best in standing water
 Rice is not an aquatic plant, it can survive in water
but does not thrive under hypoxic conditions
 Rice plants spends lot of its energy to develop air
pockets (aerenchyma tissue) in its roots under
continuous inundation
 70% of Rice root tips get degenerated by flowering
period
 Under SRI paddy fields are not flooded but keep
the soil moist during vegetative phase
 SRI requires only about half as much water as
normally applied in irrigated rice

23. Conventional system with more water

24. Intermittent wetting and drying and Aeration

25. SIX MECHANISMS AND PROCESSES FOR SRI
1. EARLY TRANSPLANTING
seedlings 8-12 days old,
when plant has only
two small leaves,before
fourth phyllochron
2. CAREFUL TRANSPLANTING
Minimize trauma in transplanting
Remove plant from nursery with the
seed, soil and roots carefully and
place it in the field without plunging
too deep into soil
 More tillering potential
 More root growth potential
 More tillering potential

29. After 12 days in
nursery
the plant height
is 7.7 inches
(18.8cm)
Length of main root
is 5 inches
(12.7 cm)
4 leaves
8 small roots

34. Diagram of possible stalks of a rice shoot
stalks grow following a regular cycle (phyllochron)

35. Contd..
3. WIDE SPACING
plant single seedlings,
not in clumps, and in
a square pattern, not rows,
25cm x 25cm or wider
4. WEEDING AND AERATION
needed because no standing water;
use simple mechanical “rotating hoe”
that churns up soil; 2 weedings
required, with 4 recommended before
panicle initiation; first weeding 10
days after transplanting
 More root growth potential
 More root growth, due to
reduced weed competition,
and aeration of soil, giving
roots more oxygen and N
due to increased microbial
activity we left in soil; can
add 1+tons per weeding?
Each additional weeding
after two rounds results in
increased productivity up to
2 t/ha/weeding

37. Contd..
5. WATER MANAGEMENT
regular water applications to
keep soil moist but not saturated,
with intermittent dryings,alternating
aerobic and anaerobic soil
conditions
6. COMPOST/FYM
applied instead of or in addition to
chemical fertilizer; 10 tons/ha;
 More root growth because
avoids root degeneration able
to acquire more and more
varied nutrients from the soil
 More plant growth because of
better soil health and structure,
and more balanced nutrient
supply

39. Green Manure crop (Sunhemp)

40. Crop residues

41. Crop residues

42. Nursery Management
 Seed rate 2 kg/ac
 Nursery area 1 cent/ac
 Select healthy seed
 Pre-sprouted seeds are
sown on raised nursery bed
 Prepare nursery bed like garden crops
 Apply a layer of fine manure
 Spread sprouted seed sparcely
 Cover with another layer of manure
 Mulch with paddy straw
 Water carefully
 Banana leaf sheath may be used for easy lifting and transport of
seedlings

44. Main field preparation
 Land preparation is not different from regular
irrigated rice cultivation
 Levelling should be done carefully so that water
can be applied very evenly
 At every 3 m distance form a canal to facilitate
drainage
 With the help of a marker draw lines both way at
25 x 25 cm apart and transplant at the intersection

45. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI IN COASTAL AREA
YIELD( Kg/ha)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Vj Sr Vz Wg Eg Kr Gn Pr
Check
SRI

46. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI IN TELANGANA AREA
YIELD( Kg/ha)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
Ma Ra Me Na Wa Kh Ka Ni Ad
Check
SRI

47. PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI IN RAYALASEEMA
YIELD( Kg/ha)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
Ku Ka An Ch
Check
SRI

48. 0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Sr Vj Vz Eg Kr Pr Ku An Ra Ni Ma Na Wa Kh Ka Ad
Check SRI
PADDY YIELDS UNDER SRI REPORTED BY DOA
YIELD( Kg/ha)

49. Performance of SRI in AP- Kharif 2003
No. of
trials
Yield
results
> 10 t/ha
Range of
results
Yield
advantage
(kg/ha)
AP State 134 33 3.2-16.2 1869
Rayalaseema 10 6 7.8-15.5 4731
Telangana 40 10 4.2-16.2 2504
Coastal 84 17 3.2-14.3 1145

50. Performance of SRI in AP- Kharif 2003
(Trials organized by State DOA)
No. of trials - 69
Average SRI yield (t/ha) - 8.36
Control (t/ha) - 4.89
State average productivity (t/ha) - 3.87
5 districts averaged over 10 t/ha

51. Report on SRI Cultivation
Name of the Farmer : Mr.A.Jayasurya Reddy
Address : Tarimala Village, Singanamala Mandal
Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh
Season : Rainy season 2003
Area under SRI : 0.2 ha
Variety : BPT 5204
S.No. Parameter Farmers method SRI
1. No. of productive tillers/m2 503 706
2 No. of grains/panicle 87 152
3 Length of panicle (cm) 15.5 14.2
4 1000 grain weight (g) 13.3 14.4
5 Chaffy grain (%) 19.2 3.2
6 Grain yield (kg/ha) 5850 13297
7 Straw yield (kg/ha) 7110 12600
8 Duration(days) 150 140

52. Report on SRI Cultivation
Name of the Farmer : Mr.K.Venka Subba Reddy
Address : Konidedu Village, Panyam Mandal
Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh
Season : Rainy season 2003
Area under SRI : 840 m2
Variety : BPT 5204
S.No. Parameter Farmers method SRI
1. Date of sowing 22-6-2003 19-7-2003
2 Date of Transplanting 31-7-2003 28-7-2003
3 Date of harvesting 10-12-2003 10-12-2003
4 Productive tillers/m2 510 1040
5 Panicle length (cm) 17.2 20.2
6 No. of grains/panicle 105 202
7 1000 grain weight(g) 18.8 21.1
8 Grain yield kg/ha 5625 15774
9 Cost of cultivation (Rs/ha) 16250 18000

53. Report on SRI Cultivation
Name of the Farmer : Mr.Rakesh
Address : EdulapalliVillage, Kotturu Mandal
Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh
Variety : BPT 5204
Area under SRI : 0.8 ha
S.No. Parameter Farmers method SRI (*)
1. Date of sowing 6-6-2003 7-7-2003
2 Date of Transplanting 28-6-2003 17-7-2003
3 Date of harvesting 6-11-2003 5-12-2003
4 No. of productive tillers/hill 20 40
5 Length of the panicle (cm) 14 20
6 No. of grains/panicle 150 210
7 Grain yield t/ha 4.7 8.9
(*) Only organic manures were applied

54. Report on SRI Cultivation
National Seed Project, ANGRAU, Hyderabad
Variety : BPT 5204
Area under SRI : 0.2 ha
S.No. Parameter Farmers method SRI
1. Age of seedling at transplanting 30 10
2 Days to 50% flowering 114 108
3 No. of productive tillers/hill 10 28
4 Panicle length (cm) 21.4 21.0
5 No. of grains per panicle 162 166
6 1000 grain weight (g) 14.4 14.4
7 Yield t/ha 5.7 7.1
SRI crop matured 10 days earlier

55. Report on SRI Cultivation
Name of the Farmer : Mr.T.Sambi Reddy
Address : Bhadirajupalem Village,
ThotlavallurMandal
Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh
Area under SRI : 0.2 ha
Variety : BPT 5204
S.No. Parameter Farmers method SRI
1. Date of sowing 20-7-2003 20-7-2003
2 Date of Transplanting 17-8-2003 1-8-2003
3 Date of harvesting 13-12-2003 13-12-2003
4 No. of productive tillers/hill 13 42
5 Length of the panicle(cm) 22 30
6 No. of grains/panicle 254 357
7 Grain yield (kg/ha) 8036 12576
8 Cost of cultivation per ha 15,000 17,500

56. SRI is counter - Intuitive
Less can produce more
Younger seedlings becomes larger and more productive
Fewer plants/hill and per m2 give more yield
Less water can give greater yield

57. SRI utilizes Biological Power
 Rice root system grown under SRI i.e., aerated soil do not
degenerate, are much larger and function better
 Soils that are aerated and well supplied with organic matter can
support longer and diverse populations of soil micro organisms,
which inturn mobilizes nutrients to the plant
 Phytohormones produced by bacteria and fungi living in soils
and roots promote root growth and the health of the plants
 Root exudates provide food to microorganisms
 Application of fertilizers and other agro chemicals has inhibiting
effect on soil biota

58. Benefits of SRI
1. Higher yields – Both grain and straw
2. Reduced duration (by 10 days)
3. Lesser chemical inputs
4. Less water requirement
5. Less chaffy grain %
6. Grain weight increased without change in grain size
7. Higher head rice recovery
8. Withstood cyclonic gales
9. Cold tolerance
10. Soil health improves through biological activity

59. Future needs
 Research to produce different models for different
situations
 To promote SRI by way of making information
available
 To organise a few demonstrations with farmers
participation

60. Swarna under SRI