Rice Cropping System

La evapotranspiración y necesidades de riego del arroz son un tema pendiente. Se ha determinado la evapotranspiración de un arroz tipo indica a partir de técnicas de covarianza de torbellinos. Se propone un método para la determinación del coeficiente de cultivo, Kc, a partir de información satelital. El coeficiente de cultivo a partir de la inundación alcanza valores máximos de 1.2-1.4 mientras el cultivo no cubre la totalidad de la superficie para mantenerse en valores cercanos a 1 durante la etapa de meseta. La estrategia de riego del agricultor puede tener influencia en los valores de Kc a lo largo del ciclo.

Built on deep-rooted political and cultural heritage, ‘rice security’ is the foundation of ‘food security’ in Bangladesh. The country has been in production-surplus of rice in the current decade feeding over 165 million people. This on-going ‘selfsufficiency momentum’ would require to maintain to meet increased demand from growing future population. On developmental side, Bangladesh is placed among the three of the world’s fastest growing economies in the years through to 2050. Rice sector would need to match with the pace of this growth. In addition, agriculture sector, that includes rice, is to double the productivity as the government commits to meet the SDG goal 2.3.1. This study addresses those issues through scoping increased rice production and productivity in Bangladesh, developing a plan of work (POW) on translating the scope and designing implementation plans and actions, incorporating efficiency, resilience, stability and sustainability issues, to achieve the POW. The stu...

As a consequence of increasing urbanization and shortage of good quality water, wastewater irrigation is a growing phenomenon in many arid and semi-arid countries. A common characteristic of wastewater is high salinity, with cities typically adding 200 – 500 mg l-1 of total dissolved solids compared to the source water supplied to the city. Wastewater from the city of Hyderabad in southern India is discharged to the Musi river. Downstream of the city this water, supplemented with groundwater and runoff captured in small reservoirs, is an important source for irrigation. Comparisons between upstream and downstream monitoring sites, over a distance of 39.7 km, revealed changes in the salinity of the river water. A simple mass-balance model was developed to simulate the observed differences. Results indicate that 94% of the salt load originates in the city. Downstream salinity increased by about 9%. In fields irrigated with wastewater, soil salinity increased with time with salt retention of approximately 34 kg ha-1 y-1. This represents approximately 0.1% of the total salt load applied to the land. In many places the soils have salinity in excess of recommended tolerance levels for rice, once the principal crop, but which is now increasingly being converted to fodder grass.

The study on " Hydro-Physical Characteristics of soils of Jorhat District under Paddy cultivation " was carried out with the objective to generate information on soil water relationships in soils of Jorhat district under paddy cultivation. Soil samples were collected from Titabor, representing Humid Alluvial Flood Free Zone (HAFFZ), Baghchung, representing Humid Alluvial Flood Prone zone (HAFPZ) and Nimatighat, representing Char areas (CA) of Jorhat district. From each agro-ecological zones representative samples (both disturbed and core) were collected from two (2) locations and in each location from two land situations, viz., lowland and medium land and at each land situation from three depths viz., 0-15, 15-30 and 30-45 cm. Soil samples were analyzed for determination of soil physical and moisture characteristics parameters following standard procedures as outlined by Baruah and Barthakur (A Texbook of Soil Analysis). The soil moisture retention was increased as the clay content increased. Sand content of the soils had significant negative correlation with moisture retentions at different suctions viz. 0.3 bar (-0.77**), 0.5 bar (-0.707**), 1 bar (-0.716**), 5 bar (-0.554**) and 15 bar (-0.586**) suctions. The silt content had significant negative correlation (-0.529**) with moisture retention at 15 bar suction while the clay content had significant positive correlation with moisture retention at 0.3 bar (0.722**), 0.5 bar (0.707 **), 1 bar (0.622**), 5 bar (0.582**) and 15 bar (0.771**) suctions, respectively. Available water content of Titabor, Baghchung and Nimatighat are 21.11 and 22.32 per cent, 21.51 and 23.42 per cent and 23.72 and 20.56 per cent for both lowland and medium-land situations, respectively. The Profile Water Storage capacity of HAFFZ for both lowland and medium land situation are 20.11 and 20.66 cm m-0.45 respectively. For both the land situations water storage capacity remained almost similar. For CA and HAFPZ the storage capacity ranged from 19.97 to 23.55 cm m-0.45. In Pedotransfer Functions the exponent for Ѱ-θ relationship decreased and exponent for K-θ increased as the depth increased. The findings of this study leads to the conclusion that the water storage capacity of the paddy soils of Jorhat district was high irrespective of land situations a second crop can be cultivated in these soils without irrigation immediately after harvesting of paddy. The functional relationships of soil water suction (Ѱ) and hydraulic conductivity (k) with soil water content (θ) developed for the paddy soils of Jorhat district can be utilized for large scale planning of efficient use of available water resources of the area. In this regard, value for exponent of water (θ) for Ѱ-θ and K-θ relationship determined in this study for the paddy growing soils of HAFFZ, HAFPZ and CA of Jorhat district may be utilized for understanding future research for crop efficient use of available water resources.

. in questo lavoro viene analizzata la bioplastica, ottenuta dall'amido di mais, nei suoi aspetti produttivi e di utilizzazione in agricoltura nella formulazione di films pacciamanti, con evidenti vantaggi ambientali ed aziendali dovuti alla eliminazione delle operazioni di rimozione dei teli dal campo e dello smaltimento finale. La bio plastica come evoluzione della chimica verde.

The present research work was carried out at two distinct locations (Research Field and Farmer's Field) of District Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh during two cropping season of rice i.e. Kharif of 2015 and 2016. Farmer's Field was less disturbed ecosystem where farmer followed traditional agriculture practices for growing crops. Research Field ecologically was highly disturbed area where scientists were fallowed intensive agricultural practices for growing crops. Light trap was used for study of biodiversity of Hemipteran phototactic insect fauna. Total 37 species of order Hemiptera belongs to 12 families were collected from rice ecosystem. Family Pentatomidae was the dominating family among the all 12 families. 5 species were collected more in number at Farmer's Field in comparison to Research Field. 37 species were collected at Farmer's Field, while 32 species were at Research Field.

Rice is one of the main dietary foods widely consumed by Kurdish people in the Kurdistan Region. In
this research, five different types of rice samples have been studied. The starch content of rice samples
was found to be in the range of 81.23-92.73%. The high starch content of 92.73% was obtained by sample-5
and the low and standard of starch content of 81.23% was obtained by sample-1. The total sugar content
of rice samples was determined by using a phenol-sulfuric acid method at different hydrolysis time
under constant acid concentration (2% H2SO4) and temperature (25°C). The physical properties including
length, width, thickness, equivalent diameter, surface area, sphericity, aspect ratio, volume, bulk density,
true density, porosity, and thousand kernel weight was studied for rice samples. The physical properties
are necessary for designing appropriate equipment for process operations such as handling, transporting,
sorting, and designing storage structures in food processing industry based on their properties.

Evaluation of 400-cropping index implementation on irrigated lowland rice base system using soybean. The planting pattern of irrigated lowland in East Java is rice–rice–rice or rice–rice–“palawija”, in other words having cropping intensity (CI) of 300 or often called CI-300. The objective of this research was to evaluate the increase of cropping intensity from CI-300 to be CI-400 on the irrigated lowland both technically and economically using the planting pattern of rice–rice–rice–soybean and rice–rice–soybean–soybean. The research was conducted at Ngale Experimental Research Station, Ngawi region during 2009/2010, with 1 ha coverage area. The result showed that the increase of CI from CI-300 to CI-400 on the irrigated lowland by addition of one planting season using soybean crop was technically and financially not feasible. Therefore, the planting pattern of rice–rice–rice–soybean and rice–rice–soybean–soybean could not be implemented. The implementation of the planting pattern of rice–rice–rice on the irrigated lowland was more profitable compared to that of rice–rice–soybean. 
Keywords: Cropping index-400, soybean, irrigated lowland

An important foundation for crop improvement is the availability of accurate knowledge of its genetic diversity. Rice, being a major world crop, has attracted great attention in the area of genetic diversity studies. Conventional breeding approaches have been used in its improvement

— The study examined sources of risk and management strategies among farmers in rice post harvest management in Niger State. The research was undertaken in five Local Government Areas of Niger State, namely Katcha, Lavun, Paikoro, Shiroro and Wushishi. Data obtained for the research was achieved through questionnaires administered to 200 farmers selected using multi-stage sampling techniques. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The study showed that rice post harvest management is carried out by subsistence farmer with average farm size of 2.7ha and are of active productive age of 31-50 years, who have 24 years farming experience in the rice post harvest management. The study revealed that farmers in the study area are affected by production risk, financial risk, human or personal risk, market or price risk and technological risk sources. The farmers have adopted prevention, mitigation and coping with risk as management strategies. Based on the findings the study recommended provision of credit facilities, rice post harvest machineries at subsidized rate, rural infrastructures, cooperative formation, use of extension officer and proper storage facilities.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple crop in Bangladesh and different factors influence its productivity. Among these factors, desired number of plant spacing per unit area is important for higher yield attainment.Therefore, this study were undertaken to define the optimum plant geometry for getting the maximum yield. The experiment was conducted at Agronomy field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University during December, 2011 to May, 2012 to study the growth and yield of Boro rice (BRRI dhan 50) as affected by planting geometry under System of Rice Intensification (SRI). Experiment comprised 5 level of plant spacing, viz. S1: 25 cm × 25 cm, S2: 30 cm × 30 cm, S3: 35 cm × 35 cm, S4: 40 cm × 40 cm and S5: 25 cm × 15 cm following Completely Randomized Block Design with three replication. Maximum dry matter (156.2 g/hill), number of tiller (44.0/hill), number of effective tiller (36.3/hill), number of filled grains (101.5/panicle), grain yield (6.9 t/ha), straw yield (5.9 t/ha), biological yield (12.7 t/ha) and harvest index (54.5%) was found from 40 x 40 cm plant spacing while minimum was observed from 25 x 25 cm of plant spacing in this study.

Rice consumption is a source of arsenic (As) exposure, which poses serious health risks. In this study, the accumulation of As in rice was studied. Research shows that As accumulation in rice in Taiwan and Bangladesh is higher than that in other countries. In addition, the critical factors influencing the uptake of As into rice crops are defined. Furthermore, determining the feasibility of using effective ways to reduce the accumulation of As in rice was studied. AsV and AsIII are transported to the root through phosphate transporters and nodulin 26-like intrinsic channels. The silicic acid transporter may have a vital role in the entry of methylated As, dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), into the root. Amongst As species, DMA(V) is particularly mobile in plants and can easily transfer from root to shoot. The OsPTR7 gene has a key role in moving DMA in the xylem or phloem. Soil properties can affect the uptake of As by plants. An increase in organic matter and in the concentrations of sulphur, iron, and manganese reduces the uptake of As by plants. Amongst the agronomic strategies in diminishing the uptake and accumulation of As in rice, using microalgae and bacteria is the most efficient.

In order to study mode of gene action in rice for traits related to yield [spikelet
per  panicle,  per  cent  filled  grains,  1000
-
grain  we
ight  (g)  and  yield  per  plant]
and drought tolerance (proline content and stomatal behavior), six varieties of
rice  (HUR  3022,  Sarjoo  52,  Nagina  22  and  Birsa  Gora)  were  investigated
under two different conditions i.e. moisture stress (rain fed) and moisture
non
–
stress  (irrigated).  Direct  crosses  were  made  between  drought  susceptible
parents  (HUR  3022  and  Sarjoo  52)  and  drought  tolerant  parents  (Nagina  22
and Birsa Gora). F1’s were back crossed with the recipient parents i.e. drought
susceptible  parents  at
Agricultural  Research  Farm,  Institute  of  Agricultural
Sciences,  Banaras  Hindu  University,  Varanasi  and  off  season  at  CRRI,
Cuttack, Odisha in 2009
-
2010. In 2010, F1’s been grown and were allowed to
self  for  obtaining  F2  seeds.  In  the  next  generation  F2  se
eds  were  planted  to
raise  F3  population.  Therefore,  five  different  populations  (generations)
including P1, P2, F1, F2 and F3 were planted in a randomized complete block
design with three replications. The additive × additive (i) model was significant
for t
raits spikelet  per panicle, 1000
–
grain  weight and  yield per plant in both
the environments where as dominance × dominance was found to be significant
for per cent filled grains in both the environments. Simple scaling test indicated
that  the  inheritance
of  traits  related  to  yield  was  described  by  non
-
allelic
interactions  mainly  additive  ×  Additive  and  dominance  ×  dominance  and
duplicate epistasis

Tulisan ini dimuat sebagai lampiran dalam buku:
Krisis Pangan dan "Sesat Pikir": Mengapa Masih Berlanjut? Yunita T. Winarto (peny). Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, 2016. hlm. 198--201.

Paper singkat ini adalah sinopsis beberapa video dokumenter mengenai peristiwa ledakan "hama elite" Wereng Batang Coklat yang terjadi di Jawa dan Sumatra tahun 2010-2011 saat terjadinya fenomena la Niña. Dalam situasi terjadinya variasi dan perubahan iklim, ekosistem sawah di Pulau Jawa berada dalam kondisi rentan oleh berbagai faktor, antara lain oleh penggunaan pestisida secara tidak bijaksana yang mengakibatkan punahnya musuh alami. Di sisi lain, petani—sebagai aktor utama dalam kegiatan pertanian—acap hanya menjadi sasaran pemasaran paket  teknologi pertanian tanpa bekal pengetahuan yang memadai untuk memahami kondisi ekosistem lahannya. Film dokumenter ini dibuat dengan tujuan untuk memberikan gambaran visual tentang Bio-Ekologi WBC beserta faktor-faktor yang terkait dengan fenomena ledakan populasi WBC. Selain itu video-video dokumenter ini juga menampilkan berbagai upaya kelompok petani untuk memperkaya pengetahuan mereka tantang pertanian ekologis dan mencari solusi pertanian yang tangguh dan ramah lingkungan tanpa harus bergantung pada penggunaan input kimia sintetik.

As rice farming is not an overnight wonder, it has evolved while facing challenges imposed by nature in form of drought, flood, cyclone, epidemics etc. Thus, the skills of farming developed include various types of best practices, which could be adopted even within the present arena of rice cultivation.
At present, more than 95% of the paddy field is cultivated with the so-called semi-dwarf newly improved rice verities, which are harvested using chemicals, non-organic fertilizer and pesticides, which is a requirement for larger harvests hence the lower price. However, with the current trend of global awareness of the benefits of consuming organic food and the dangers of using chemical fertilizer and pesticides, traditional rice is gradually making a come-back.
Farmers had many rice varieties developed using natural selection by observing adaptive ability of such varieties for their environmental factors such as tolerance to water situation, pest and disease prevalence, soil fertility etc. and for various social needs such as health, cultural functions, religious needs etc. Among them many varieties are found for specific purposes.

One of the major issues facing humankind is global food security. A changing climate, coupled with a heightened consumer awareness of how food is produced and legislative changes governing the usage of agrichemicals for improving plant health and yield, means that alternative, more integrated and sustainable approaches are needed for crop management practices. To this end, there is increasing recognition of the value of the role of microbial inoculants in agriculture. The focus of this review is to understand how plant-growth-promoting bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can play a part in improving crop yield by promoting the health status of the plant through the sequestration of various nutrients and in the control of plant diseases.

This study examines the factors that affect marketing channel selections of rice farmers in Thailand, which are believed to be distinctive compared with those of other agricultural products. One of the possible reasons for the differences is the Thai government
has formally, over many years, subsidised rice farmers under the rice pledging scheme (RPS). Since the scheme ended in 2014, rice farmers have been facing a more competitive market environment and need to be more proactive in their choice of marketing and this research aims to generate greater understanding of the drivers of choice in order this issue may be addressed. This study identified factors affecting the marketing channel choices drawing on the framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and literature review. A multimethod approach was adopted involving preliminary in-depth interviews with 33 participants
and a face-to-face questionnaire survey with 661 rice farmers in 3 main rice production regions by using purposive and convenience sampling techniques.
The results showed that Thai rice farmers mainly rely on three main channels: miller, local collector, and agricultural cooperative to sell their rice. Three other channels also used by farmers were: central paddy market, individual direct selling and group direct selling. Paired samples t-test was used to compare the channels used before and after the RPS
ended from which it was determined that there were statistical differences between regions, education levels, sources of information, type of rice growing, production partly for own consumption or not, use of hired vehicles or not and distance to market in the different channels on past behaviour and intention.
Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothetical relationships based on the results from principal components analysis and reliability of scale. The results identified that intention had been directly affected by past behaviour, attitude, subjective norm, farmers’ power, consideration of transaction specific
cost and channel accessibility of which indirectly influenced on intention through past behaviour. Therefore, the significance of path relationships in different channel choices had been addressed by using multi-group analysis. The findings could have potential implications for many stakeholders, e.g. policy makers, farmers and rice buyers, illustrating
the importance of these factors in understanding rice farmers in making channel choice decisions.
Key words: marketing channel, rice, rice pledging scheme, Theory of Planned Behaviour,
multi-method, partial least squares structural equation modelling, Thailand

Use of inorganic fertilizers constitutes 20% of the rice production cost in Mwea. Azolla fern, which grows in Mwea Irrigation paddies, has the potential to supplement the nitrogen requirement, thus reducing the fertilizer costs. A field experiment was conducted in Mwea Irrigation Scheme during 2015 long and short rains to determine the effect of Azolla incorporation and inorganic nitrogen on growth and yield of rice. The treatments comprised three nitrogen fertilizer levels (0, 30 and 60kg N ha-1) and three Azolla biomass levels (0, 7.5 and 15tons ha-1) laid out in a randomized complete block design with a split-plot arrangement. Data on plant height and number of tillers per plant were collected at 21, 35, 45, and 65 and 75 days after transplanting rice while yield and yield components were determined at 120 days after transplanting rice. Soil was analysed for N, P and K, before and after termination of the experiment. Data were subjected to analysis of variance using SAS and means separated using the least significant difference test at p ≤ 0.05. Azolla incorporation significantly increased residual soil phosphorus, grain weight, % grain filling and grain yield. Inorganic nitrogen significantly increased plant height, tiller numbers, neck node, and panicle length, number of panicle m-2 and grain yield. Grain yield increase from Azolla treatment ranged from 5 to 42% compared to that of inorganic nitrogen which ranged from 18 to 36%. Application of 15t ha-1 of Azolla biomass recorded the highest yield, however, it was not significantly different from that of 7.5t ha-1 .

Over the last two decades, significant changes in lowland rice cultivation practices have occurred in mainland Southeast Asia. Here, we compare lowland rice farming in six provinces in northeastern Thailand and four districts in Savannakhet Province in southern Laos and consider the ways that agrarian change, including the deepening of capitalist relations, is occurring. Some of the most important changes taking place relate to increasing mechanization, remittances, changing bases of labour's simple reproduction, and the increased importance of international markets, especially for organic rice. These changes and associated government policies are having a considerable influence on agricultural practices. The Chinese market for organic rice from Laos is reducing pesticide and herbicides use and prolonging hand-transplanting of paddy, while encouraging farmers to use uniform sized high-yielding rice varieties, and abandoning local seeds. Rice exports from Laos are having both positive and negative environmental effects, indicating the nuanced influences of particular international markets and government policies.

Authors
Spangenberg, Joachim H., Beaurepaire, Alexis L., Bergmeier, Erwin, Burkhard, Benjamin, Ho Van Chieng, Le Quoc Cuongh, Görg, Christoph, Grescho, Volker, Le Huu Hai, Heong, K.L., Horgan, Finbarr G., Hotes, Stefan, Klotzbücher, Anika, Klotzbücher, Thimo, Kühn, Ingolf, Langerwisch, Fanny, Marion, Glenn, Moritz, Robin F.A., Quynh Anh Nguyen, Ott, Jürgen, Sann, Christina, Sattler, Cornelia, Schädler, Martin, Schmidt, Anja, Tekken, Vera Truong Dao Thanh, Thonicke, Kirsten, Türke, Manfred, Vaclavik, Tomas, Vetterlein, Doris, Westphal, Catrin, Wiemers, Martin, Settele, Josef

Abstract
In a cross-disciplinary project (LEGATO) combining inter-and transdisciplinary methods, we quantify the dependency of rice-dominated socio-ecological systems on ecosystem functions (ESF) and the ecosystem services (ESS) the integrated system provides. In the collaboration of a large team including geo-and bioscientists, economists, political and cultural scientists, the mutual influences of the biological, climate and soil conditions of the agricultural area and its surrounding natural landscape have been analysed. One focus was on sociocultural and economic backgrounds, another on local as well as regional land use intensity and biodiversity, and the potential impacts of future climate and land use change. LEGATO analysed characteristic elements of three service strands defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA): (a) pro-visioning services: nutrient cycling and crop production; (b) regulating services: biocontrol and pollination; and (c) cultural services: cultural identity and aesthetics. However, in line with much of the current ESS literature, what the MA called supporting services is treated as ESF within LEGATO. As a core output, LEGATO developed generally applicable principles of ecological engineering (EE), suitable for application in the context of future climate and land use change. EE is an emerging discipline, concerned with the design, monitoring and construction of ecosystems and aims at developing strategies to opti-mise ecosystem services through exploiting natural regulation mechanisms instead of suppressing them. Along these lines LEGATO also aims to create the knowledge base for decision-making for sustainable land management and livelihoods, including the provision of the corresponding governance and management strategies, technologies and system solutions.

The cultivated rice (Oryza Sativa L.) belongs to the tribe, Oryzeae under the sub family Pooideae, in the grass family Gramineae (Poaceae). It is classified into two broad species; the Asian (sativa L.) and African (glabberima Steud) rice. The crop is considered the world’s most diverse and versatile with reference to its wide adaptability to variable ecologies. The plant usually takes 3–6 months from germination to maturity, depending on the variety and the environment under which it is grown. Rice has been cultivated world-wide for more than 10,000 years. FAO in 2000 classified it as the most important food crop depended on by over 50% of the world population for about 80% of their food need.
Consequently, rapid population growth and economic development are creating high pressures on food production, and to meet the global food demands, rice yield is expected to increase at a minimum rate of 1.2% annually over the next 10 years. In limited cultivated farmland, it is critical to ensure food security through continuous grain yield improvements, thus intensive rice breeding over the past 50 years has dramatically increased productivity especially in the indica sub species. A number of breeding programs have since developed ambitious strategies to increase grain yield; one of such being the manipulation of tiller numbers.
The present study sought to determine and compare tiller productivity and survival dynamics, relative to grain yield. A set of 12 genotypes was used; ten (10) lowland hybrid lines (16KH09010053, 16KH09010003, AFRUG6020041, 16KH09010044, DU 363-2, 16KH09010005, 16KH09010022, 16KH09010072, AFRUG6020058 and KIMNY), and two (2) upland inbred lines (NAMCHE 5 and ENTRY 20). The experiment was set up in one of the agronomy fields based at the NaCRRI Irrigation Facilities (Trial Farms), a typical irrigated lowland ecosystem. Sowing was done on 15th February, 2017, in a nursery bed. 21 day old seedlings were then transplanted to well-prepared experimental plots on 8th March, 2017. DAP was applied at transplanting, and Urea 7 WAT, both as top dressings.
The field was well managed for weeds and water distribution. Data was collected on various aspects, including numbers of tillers, productive and surviving tillers for 10 random plants per plot, at weekly, and fortnight intervals on some occasions. The data was then processed using MS Excel, while ANOVA and Correlations were performed using Genstat.
The results showed that the genotypes varied appreciably for both productive and surviving tillers. Maximum tillers ranged from 9 (NAMCHE 5) to 18 tillers hill-1 (16KH09010044) with 1, 9 and 2 genotypes attaining ceiling number of tillers at 10, 11 and 12 WAT respectively. Productive tillers hill-1 varied from 7 (DU 363-2) to 16 (16KH09010022), whilst surviving tillers hill-1 ranged from 7 (NAMCHE 5) to 18 surviving tillers hill-1 (16KH09010022). The highest percent of productive and surviving tillers was recorded for the genotype 16KH09010022 (91.03 and 101.12% respectively) and the lowest for DU 363-2 (51.62%) and ENTRY 20 (71.48%) respectively.
Panicles m-2 were highest in 16KH09010022 (256.3) and lowest in 16KH09010072 (153.3). The highest grain yield was produced by DU 363-2 (6.04 tha-1) and the lowest by AFRUG6020041 (3.75 tha-1). The maximum tillers were positively correlated with the productive tillers (0.793), and panicles m-2 (r=0.689) which Panicles m-2 also showed strong correlation with surviving tillers (r=0.739), though weak and insignificant with grain yield (r=0.254). In the correlation matrix it was observed that neither the maximum tillers, nor productive tillers had positive influence on grain yield.

Through this book, specialists from around the world share the latest information on the ecology and management of Golden Apple Snails (now referred to as Invasive Apple Snails)  in a single, comprehensive publication. The lessons and knowledge gained in one country or region can be helpful in arresting the spread of this invasive species elsewhere in the world, which is listed as 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Species by IUCN/GISD/ISSG.

Several major cereal groups have been identified as staples used by the pre-urban, urban and post-urban phase populations of the Indus Civilisation (3200–1500 BCE): wheat, barley, a range of small hulled millets and also rice, though their proportional exploitation is variable across space and over time. Traditional quantification methods examine the frequency, intensity and proportionality of the use of these crops and help ascertain the ‘relative importance’ of these cereals for Indus populations. However, this notion of ‘importance’ is abstracted from the daily lives of the people using these crops and may be biased by the differential production (as well as archaeological survival) of individual cereals. This paper outlines an alternative approach to quantifying Indus cereals by investigating proportions of calories. Cereals are predominantly composed of carbohydrates and therefore provided much of the daily caloric intake among many late Holocene farming populations. The four m...

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* Dairy cattle management, health and welfare in smallholder farms: An
organic farming perspective by Charles Odhong’, Raphael Wahome, Mette Vaarst, Muhammad Kiggundu, Sylvia, Nalubwama, Niels Halberg & Samuel Githigia
* The first high yielding saline tolerant rice variety suited to the Kaipad tidal farming ecosystem of Kerala, India, suited for flood prone and water scarce environments: ‘Ezhome-1’ by T. Vanaja, V.P. Neema, K.P. Mammootty, P.C. Balakrishnan & B. Jayaprakash Naik
Soil microbial counts and performance of lowland rice (Oryza sativa L)
under two water regimes and organic soil amendments
Ngawang Chhogyel, Oscar B. Zamora & Bayani M. Espiritu
* Organic farming: The arrival of the dissident agriculture meme in Australia by John Paull
* Review: Good Food for all: Developing Knowledge Relationships between China and Australia by Sandra Grimes

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food for three billion people and paddy fields contribute greatly to greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and environmental nitrogen losses. Rice paddies need to be managed in a novel and sustainable way to promote production. Here, we critically review the potential benefits and constrains of a novel rice production system, the co-culture of rice and aquatic animals. The review helps to answer important questions: how would the co-culture affect farm profitability, water quality, and GHG emission? What are the major benefits and constraints for adopting the co-culture system? The review revealed that rice-animal co-culture provided ecological, economic, and social benefits such as increasing farm productivity and greater resource utilization efficiencies, and that the system could increase biodiversity, improve water and soil quality, and reduce GHG emissions. However, despite its potential benefits, the adoption of the system has been constrained by the lack of science-based extension programs and the farmers' concerns over drought-related production risks. Moreover, misusing the system by adopting unpractically high culture density (high animal feed input) and/or in undesirable field conditions may lead to deteriorating water quality and lowering farm profitability. The review suggests that more research is needed to evaluate the impacts of the rice-animal co-culture system under variable climate and field conditions and to identify factors controlling their negative impacts. Furthermore, a strong extension program, with policy and technological guidance from the government and non-governmental organizations, is needed to achieve the wide adoption of the co-culture practice.

A green house experiment was conducted in the net house of the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U.P.) during kharif, 2013 to find out the effect of biochar on availability of heavy metals in soil amended with sewage sludge. There were nine treatments, consisting of six different doses of biochar as 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 10, 15, 20 t ha-1 along with 100% RDF and sewage sludge @ 30 t ha-1 applied in each biochar amended pot. In order to recover plant from initial stress, 50% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) was applied in each pot at 45 DAT. Results of this study showed a significant increase in test weight, grain and straw yield with application of graded level of biochar along with sewage sludge. Soil pH and electrical conductivity did not show any significant change with application of sewage sludge but with increasing levels of biochar pH of soil showed a significant increase. Application of biochar @ 20 t ha-1 along with sewage sludge (30 t ha-1) was found to increase grain yield to 2.5 times over control (T 1) and 8.5 % over 100 % RDF. Application of 20 t biochar along with 30 t sewage sludge ha-1 (T 9) registered lowest chromium content in grain. Uptake of Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb was found maximum both in grain and straw with application of 30 t ha-1 of sludge sewage (T 3) where as minimum uptake was recorded with conjoint application of 20 t biochar and 30 t sewage sludge ha-1 (T 9).

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* Impact of the consumer’s environment on the demand for organic food in France, by Élise Maigné, Sylvette Monier-Dilhan & Thomas Poméon.
* A high yielding organic rice variety suited for coastal saline and non-saline fields: ‘Ezhome-2’, by Vanaja, T., Neema, V.P., Mammootty, K.P., Balakrishnan, P.C. & Jayaprakash Naik, B.
* Ileen Macpherson: Life and tragedy of a pioneer of biodynamic farming at Demeter Farm and a benefactor of Anthroposophy in Australia, by John Paull.

Recent and projected changes in the Tanzanian climate and population suggest that adaptation strategies will be increasingly necessary to meet the crop production and water use requirements of people in the Rufiji River Basin.  This report provides results of extensive modeling in a GIS framework and data analysis to identify vulnerabilities to agriculture due to climate change across the entire Rufiji River Basin. It focuses on the productivity of two major food security and cash crops in the region, rice and maize, and then examines the impact of management variables on water resources available for irrigation, domestic use, and other uses. This has been accomplished by calibrating crop and hydrological models to Rufiji River Basin conditions, running the model under current and future climate conditions, and under various management options such as irrigation technologies or fertilizer applications.  The results provide new information on the potential impact of climate change and human management decisions on crop productivity and water resource availability for the Basin.

The  growing  seasons  usually  depends  on  the
seedling transplanting dates. Proper sowing time is
good  cultural  practice  to  complete  growing  phase
successfully.  This  research  was  conducted  on  the
basis of randomized complete block design with split
plot arrangement (three replicates) during the 2012
cropping season at Rice Research Institute of Iran,
Mazandaran. Three seedling transplanting dates (1 st 
May, 21 st  May and 10 th  June) and six rice cultivars
(‘Neda’, ‘Hovaze’, ‘Hashemi’, ‘Domsiah’, ‘Tarom’ and
‘Fajr’)  were  studied.  Among  the  studied  cultivars,
‘Neda’,  transplanted  on  21 st  May,  recorded  higher
effective  tillers,  fertile  spikelets,  bolder  grains  with
greater 1000-grain weight and grain yield. However,
panicle  exertion,  1000-grain  weight  and  fertile
spikelets  were  equally  greater  with  non-significant
differences in 1 st  and 21 st  May except for plant height
which  declined  in  the  early  and  mid  transplanting.
The  suitability  of  early  and  mid  transplanting  was
mainly  due  to  favourable  weather  temperature
during  the  growing  phase.  Correlation  coefficient
analysis  showed  that  a  unit  increase  in  effective
tillers,  total  number  of  spikelets  and  1000-grain
weight  correspondingly  increased  grain  yield  by
236.6, 39.4 and 72.1 kg/ha, respectively. Irrespective
of cultivars type, the late transplanting of 10 th  June
increased plant height while it decreased important
yield components. Observed trends associated with
growth  and  yield  features  were  found  to  be  similar
in all the studied cultivars. The study concludes that
rice crop may be sown on early and mid transplanting dates (1 st  or 21 st  May) for achieving better growth and
grain yield.