Monday, November 5, 2007 - 11:10 AM
45-5
Opportunities with Improved Crop and Healthy Canopy Management for Rice.
Irrigated rice accounts for about 50% of the area and 75% of the production for rice in Asia . Yields of irrigated rice in farmers’ fields in Asia are typically only about 60% of the genetic and climatic yield potential. Opportunities exist for improvements in crop management to profitability increase yields to a target of 80% of the yield potential. This will require going beyond a traditional integrated crop management approach of selecting from a basket of options to a systematic approach with scientific principles for location-specific management of rice by crop growth stage. Such an approach provides optimized rice production solutions for implementing a mix of technologies for the profitable and environmentally-sound achievement of yield targets in a fashion that matches local conditions and requirements of farmers. It provides management options to farmers on the basis of crop growth phase. Crop establishment and early fertilizer practices are selected to ensure sufficient, but not excessive, vegetative growth to achieve a yield target with a crop canopy least susceptible to rice diseases and pests. The need for fertilizer N is estimated from a target N use efficiency (grain yield increase per unit of N applied) and the anticipated response to applied N. Fertilizer N is distributed within the season based on growth stage, and the N doses are dynamically adjusted upward or downward based on leaf N status. Small plot techniques are provided to enable small-scale farmers to assess the benefits of secondary and micronutrients on crop performance, including grain filling and quality. Guidelines are provided for adjusting fertilizer management based on the management of crop residues and organic inputs.
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