Direct seeded rice
Also called: DSR · Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Direct seeded rice (DSR) means sowing rice seed straight into the field. In the usual method, seedlings are grown in a nursery and then planted by hand into flooded fields. DSR needs no puddling (churning flooded soil into mud) and no standing water in the early weeks. This saves water and labour and reduces methane, a greenhouse gas released by flooded paddy fields.
Example
A Punjab farmer who uses DSR skips the nursery and the costly transplanting labour. They use less groundwater, which matters in a state where water tables are falling fast.
Don't confuse with
- System of rice intensification (SRI): SRI still transplants seedlings, but uses young ones, wide spacing and intermittent watering. DSR does away with transplanting completely.
Related concepts
- Traditional knowledge
- Vermicomposting
- Biopest control
- Integrated pest management
- Organic farming
- Organic food
- Natural farming
- Zero budget natural farming
- Conservation agriculture
- Zero tillage