Guidelines for dry seeded aman rice (DSR) in Bangladesh

Abstract

Dry seeded rice (DSR) is becoming an attractive option for farmers as it has a much lower labor requirement than manually transplanted rice. Labor for transplanting rice has become scarce and costly because laborers are shifting from agriculture to industry, public works and services, and migrating abroad. DSR can be readily adopted by small farmers as well as large farmers, provided that the required machinery is locally available (e.g., through custom hire from agricultural service providers). Best practice involves using a 2- or 4-wheel tractor-drawn drill to seed in rows into nontilled or dry tilled soil, as for wheat. Because the soil is not puddled, DSR also has a lower water requirement for crop establishment, and may require less frequent irrigation than puddled transplanted rice grown with alternate wetting and drying water management during dry spells. Where arsenic contaminated groundwater is used, less irrigation means less arsenic brought to the soil surface. Furthermore, accumulation of arsenic in the grain and straw is much less if the soil is allowed to dry between irrigations to let air (oxygen) into the soil (“aerobic” conditions) than in continuously flooded rice.