Nursery preparation The main objective of raising seedlings is to Obtain healthy planting material, Utilize the mainfield till the seedlings become ready, Minimize the cost by using less seed material . Wet nursery The area intended for nursery raising should have: An assured water supply and an efficient drainage system. Should be dry ploughed twice and later, it should be irrigated and allowed to be wet for another two days. Afterwards it should be puddled twice and the puddling may be repeated after a gap of one week. This process of puddling contributes in obtaining good tilth, removal of weeds and also facilitates water retention. To plant one acre, 4 cents of nursery is required Recommended inorganic fertilizers are to be applied after first phase of pudding. After levelling and final puddling, beds of convenient length with width of 1.5 m are to be made, leaving 50 cm channels in between two beds. Dry nursery In this method The field is ploughed 5-6 times Beds of 1.5 m width and convenient length are to be prepared Channels are to be provided for irrigating and draining of the beds After preparing the beds they are to be wetted For 10 cents of nursery beds 500 kg of well rotten FYM, 1.25 kg of P2O5 and 1 kg of potash need to be applied and incorporated with spades. Plant protection in Nursery Seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorecens and Seedling dip in NSKE or Neem oil are recommended to prevent pest and disease attack in the nursery stage.

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Transplanting The puddled land has to be levelled uniformly before transplanting. Levelling can be done by using an implement known as Wooden plank. In case of heavy soils planting has to be done one or two days after levelling but in light and sandy soils planting has to be done immediately. During planting a thin film of water (2 cm) is to be maintained in the mainfield Transplanting seedlings in the main field Plant the seedlings at the correct age and at optimum spacing. When super seedlings are used, transplant 20-25 days after sowing in the 4th leaf stage for short and medium duration varieties. In case of seedlings other than super seedlings, transplant at 4th or 5th leaf stage. - Medium and low fertility High fertility Duration Short Medium Long Short Medium Long No.of seedlings per hill 2-3 2 2 2-3 2 2 Depth of planting (cm) 3 3 3 3 3 3 Spacing (cm) 12.5 x 10 20 x 10 20 x 15 20 x 10 20 x 15 20 x 20 No.of hills/m2 80 50 33 50 33 25 Gap filling Fill up the gaps between 7 and 10 days after transplanting. Mechanical planting To overcome the problems confronting manual transplanting, many transplanters were developed in the past involving the use of traditionally grown paddy nursery for mechanical transplanting. However, several on-farm attempts made with different models of transplanters using the traditional root washed nursery were not successful because of the machine-related problems in use of the nursery. Broadcasting of seedlings - Labour saving method A new and novel method of rice crop establishment known as broadcasting seedlings will be the answer for shortage of labourers and escalation of the wages for transplanting. With the same quantity of rice seedlings, broadcasting of seedlings can be accomplished by saving of one third of labourers required for transplanting without any sacrifice on yield. Modified Drum Seeder for Rice The improved drum seeder for direct seeded rice saves 80 percent in the transplanting cost. And also ensures uniform seed distribution with respect to time and maintaining uniform plant population per metre square. The unit consists of a seed drum, main shaft, ground wheel, floats, furrow openers and handle. The seed drum is hyperboloid shape (truncated cone) with 200 mm diameter having 12 mm flat spikes of 25 mm length kept parallel to the axis of rotation. The slopes of the cone facilitate the free flow of seeds towards the metering holes. Nine numbers of seed metering hole of 10 mm diameter were provided along the circumference of the drum at both the ends at a row-to-row spacing of 200 mm. Two floats were provided on either side to restrict the sinkage and to facilitate easy pulling of the unit. The cost of the unit is Rs. 4,200/- It ensures: Uniformity in seed sowing and plant population. Reduction in seed rate and the cost of thinning. Hill dropping of seeds and elimination of continuous drilling.

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