Aerobic Rice:Worthful in Bihar

Aerobic rice cultivation provides feasible alternative to traditional rice production in these regions, allowing significant water savings. Field experiments were conducted at the ANGR University Agricultural Research Station, India during 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 to compare crop growth, yield, and water savings under aerobic rice.Aerobic rice is a production system in which rice is direct seeded and grown in non-puddled and non-flooded aerobic soils. Aerobic rice varieties need to be developed to cope with the increasing water scarcity in tropical Asia. Advanced breeding lines were evaluated in 24 yield trials under both non-stressed and stressed aerobic soil conditions in 4 yr (2005–2008) to assess the efficacy of the two-stress-level screening protocol and selection strategies for developing aerobic rice.Cultivation of suitable high yielding rice varieties in direct sown, non-puddle, aerated soils under supplementary irrigation and fertilizers to achieve high yield.Aerobic rice crop does not require continues flooding. It can be irrigated like direct sown crops like maize, jowar and bajra. Irrigation can be provided with interval of 4-5 days and time of irrigation can be adjusted based on the soil type and moisture availability.