Ratoon cropping of rice could be an important alternative in many agroecosystems, but the practice is not common in the tropics because the yield is low. We developed a novel ratooning technique based on lodging the rice straw in a systematic braided pattern (‘lock lodging’) after the main crop harvest. Lock-lodging was compared with the conventional ratoon method in two experiments under different N timings and levels. In the wet season the lock-lodging technique consistently and substantially outyielded conventional ratooning (2.45t/ha to 1.43 t/ha), with a higher harvest index (36 vs 22 percent), more profuse tillering, higher plant survival, and more synchronous maturity. In the dry season the lock-lodging technique outyieided the conventional mcthod (3.64 t/ha to 2.82 t/ha) with less plant attrition (8.6% hill death vs. 14.8%). The lock-lodging technique reduced main crop costs by 55 percent and earned a net margin of P132/ha/day under pump-irrigated conditions. In gravitationally irrigated ricefields, it reduced production costs by 73 percent and earned a net margin of 12O4/ha/day. Practical methods of lock-lodging were developed for farm-scale use, indicating that the practice could be rapidly integrated into appropriate rice production systems.
Año de publicación
1992
Autores
Calendacion A N; Garrity, D.P.; Ingram K T
Idioma
English
Palabras clave
rice, conventional farming, nitrogen fertilizers, oryza sativa
Geográfico
Philippines
