RICE RATOONING - IRRI books - International Rice Research Institute

RICE RATOONING IN KERALA 231Table 4. Ratoon performance of two long-duration rice varieties, Pattambi, India, 1985.Main crop aRatoon crop bVariety Duration Grain Per day 1,000- Duration Grain Per day 1,000-(d) yield yield grain (d) yield yield grain(t/ha) (g/m 2 ) weight(t/ha) (g/m 2 ) weight(g)(g)BR51-315-4 144BR52-96-3 151Mean 1472.42.92.61.61.91.722.424.023.25352520.90.60.71.71.21.417.418.618.0a Fertilizer was applied to supply 40 kg N, 20 kg P, and 20 kg K/ha.b Fertilizer was applied tosupply 1.0 kg N/ha only.Of the 120,000 ha estimated to be brought under ratooning, from only 28,000ha is additional production as a direct result of ratooning expected. In the remainingarea, indirect benefits of reduced water requirement for the ratoon crop and savingsin water, contributing to stabilization of other areas, may be expected.Before this technology can be translated into an actual action plan, however,there are several prerequisites:• Elaborate varietal evaluation should be made for ratoon performance andidentification of good varieties, preferably with red kernel and bold seeds.• Appropriate cultural and management practices must be developed toachieve maximum yield within the short ratoon crop period.• The potential danger of insect pests and diseases being directly carried overfrom the main crop must be studied in detail to evolve a viable plantprotection strategy for the ratoon crop.• Special cultural and manurial practices for the main crop to assure betterratoon performance need to be studied.• Quality aspects of the ratoon produce, both as grain and seed, need to bestudied in detail.• Possibilities of relay cropping of ratoon rice with other crops to take fulladvantage of residual moisture need to be investigated.REFERENCE CITED1. Karunakaran, K., M. B. Jalajakumari, and P. Sreedevi. 1983. Ratoon performance of some shortdurationrice cultures. Int. Rice Res. Newsl. 8(4):4.