Prospects of aerobic rice 

(Oryza sativa L.) cultivation in irrigated 
sativa L ) cultivation in irrigated
areas of India

M.D.Reddy, K.M.Dakshina Murthy and V. Ramulu
Water Technology Centre, ANGRAU, 
Water Technology Centre ANGRAU
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India

Presented in "Prospects of aerobic rice cultivation in irrigated areas of India.  National seminar on sustainable rice 
production system under changed climate. Held at CRRI, Cuttack, Nov 27‐29, 2010
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Grow rice like other cereal: no puddling, no standing 
Grow rice like other cereal: no puddling, no standing
water, no soil saturation, dry land preparation
(Bouman et. al. 2007 )

2
 Rice Scenario in India
Rice Scenario in India
• Rice area 45 million hectares 
1. 46%irrigated, 
2. 28 % rain fed lowland, 
3. 14 %flood prone, and 
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4. 12 % i f d l d
12 %rain fed upland.
• Four seasons occur in India: winter (December‐
February), summer (March‐May), rainy 
eb ua y), su e ( ac ay), a y
southwestern monsoon (June‐September), and 
post monsoon (October‐November).
• It is cultivated during Kharif (early) (Mar ‐ May 
to Jun –Oct), Kharif (Jun – Oct to Nov‐Feb) and 
summer (Nov‐Feb to Mar‐
summer (Nov‐Feb to Mar‐
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•Irrigated rice in India typically grown under
submerged conditions by keeping 5‐10 cm
depth of water

•The availability of water to agriculture and

increasing costs of water threaten the
traditional way of irrigated rice production

•Need to develop an efficient water saving

practices like aerobic rice, SRI, alternate
wetting and drying in rice production

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What is aerobic rice??

The aerobic rice is "improved upland rice" in terms of yield

potential, and "improved lowland rice" in terms of drought
tolerance

Aerobic rice is a new system of rice cultivation for water

saving in rice (Bouman et al. 2005, Yang et al. 2005), in this
system fields remain unsaturated throughout the crop
growth
th and d water
t will
ill be
b applied
li d to
t bring
b i the
th soilil water
t
content to field capacity.

Rice could be grown aerobically under irrigated condition

just like upland crops, such as wheat or maize (Bouman,
2001)

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 Aerobic rice
Aerobic rice
• Aerobic rice is a new type of rice that is aerobic‐soil‐adapted and 
input‐responsive. 
• It grows well in non puddle and non saturated soils with water 
content of 70% to 100% of water‐holding capacity throughout a 
growing season. 
• Aerobic rice can be a replacement of lowland rice wherever 
available water is insufficient for lowland rice but sufficient for 
aerobic rice. 
• Aerobic rice is targeted to more favorable environments where 
land is flat or terraced, and soil can be frequently brought to near 
field capacity by rainfall or supplemental irrigation. 

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• Aerobic rice crop yield of 3‐6 t/ha can be 
obtained in different regions
obtained in different regions.
• The dry seeding technology (aerobic rice) 
combined with other crop management
combined with other crop management 
techniques like supplementary irrigation and 
proper fertilization, it is now possible to grow 
local varieties using less water but obtaining 
higher yields.

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 The driving factor for aerobic rice
g

• Water resources for agriculture are shrinking
Water resources for agriculture are shrinking
– Traditional rice cultivation – flooded for 4 – 5 months
– In India >70% of all water used to irrigate rice
In India >70% of all water used to irrigate rice
– Rice requires more water for land preparation
– In low land rice water use is 1,000 – 2,000 mm
– About 4.5 million ha in North China , 2.1million ha in 
pakistan and 10.4 million ha in North India  and  
Central India will face water scarcity by 2025 (Tuong
Central India will face water scarcity by 2025 (Tuong 
& Bouman )

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 Trade offs and challenges
Trade offs and challenges
• Interactions among scales
• Nutrients
‐ Phosphorus and Nitrogen are less available under   
aerobic conditions
aerobic conditions 
‐ Aerobic requires more N
‐ Micro nutrient deficiencies in Aerobic rice
• Weeds
‐ ‐ Higher weed infestation
‐ ‐ Weed species shift
• Sustainability

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Aerobic rice cultivars at college farm, ANGRAU, Hyderabad, Kharif 2008.
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Niches of aerobic rice in India

1. Upland flat rice growing areas where annual rainfall is

high and rainfall with or without supplemental
irrigation is sufficient to bring the soil water content
close to field capacity, and farmers can apply
recommended dose of fertilizers and adopt best
management practices.

2. Rainfed lowland soils which are relatively coarse

coarse‐
textured , well‐drained, and ponding of water occurs for
short period in the season.

3. Irrigated lowland areas, where farmers do not have

sufficient water to keep rice fields flooded for a
substantial period of time.
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Aerobic rice production Technology
p gy

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1. Varietal development

•In India, the research on aerobic rice is limited

•Lack of high yielding varieties which can provide

hi h yields
higher i ld under
d aerobic bi conditions
di i i major
is j setback
b k
for aerobic rice cultivation in India

•varieties recommended for low land transplanted

conditions the medium and short duration varieties
under 120 days maturity period are recommended for
aerobic conditions

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•aerobic rice cultivars called Han Dao have been developed that yields
up to 6‐7.5 t ha‐1 under flash irrigation in bunded fields.

•Low land varieties like MTU 7014, IR 64, IR 13525 recorded 4.88, 3.87
and 3.86 t/ha yield respectively

•Hyderabad also proved that medium duration varieties like

Erramallelu ((4.07 t/ha),
) Naveen ((4.57 t/ha)) , MTU 1010 ((4.23 t/ha))
and Tell Hamsa (3.7 t/ha) given higher yields compared with other
varieties

•It was also observed that aerobic rice technology combined with
other crop management techniques like supplementary irrigation and
proper fertilization,
f ili i i is
it i possible
ibl to grow local
l l varieties
i i recommended d d
for lowlands like Erra Mallelu, Jagtial sannalu and Polasa prabha using
less water with reasonably good yields in A.P

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 Tab 1. Performance of Han Deo aerobic rice
varieties as observed from 1997-99 in farmers fields
in China
Variety  Regions of adoption Growth  Yield  Irrigations 
duration (days) (t/ha) water (mm)
Han Dao 
Han Dao Huang‐Huai‐Hai
Huang Huai Hai 105 115
105‐115 5.0‐6.0
5 060 150 225
150‐225
277 region
Han Dao  Northern China 130‐140 5.0‐6.5 225‐375
297
Han Dao  Along Huai River and 115‐130 6.0‐7.0 225‐300
502 in Chang Jiang river
valley

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Tab 2. Water input and water productivity and grain yield
of rice varieties at Rajendranagar, Hyderabad (kharif
2003)) under aerobic rice

Varieties Grain yield t/ha Water input Water 

productivity 
kg/m3
Varaalu 3.87 709.8 221.5
E
Erramallelu
ll l 5 28
5.28 882 7
882.7 239 5
239.5
Jagtial sannalu 4.94 940.4 210.1
Polasa prabha
Polasa prabha 4 68
4.68 1001 6
1001.6 187 6
187.6

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Tab 3.  Performance of promising rice cultures under 
p g
aerobic rice cultivation
Cultivar Aerobic  Transplanted*
Erramallelu 4 07
4.07 4 60
4.60
WGL‐14 2.14 2.00
Jagtial sannalu 2.11 1.26
Tella hamsa 3.70 2.88
IR 64 4.02 2.23
N
Naveen 4 57
4.57 3 92
3.92
MTU 1010 4.23 2.42
ARB 17(1) X 06 4.48 3.68
Rajendra 3.59 2.57
Varalu 3.15 2.07
LSD (p=0.05)
( ) 1.20 1.37
* Transplanted with over aged seedlings (50 dys) 17
II. Cultural management
II. Cultural management

a. Time of sowing 

dry seeding in rainfed upland is recommended after receipt of 60‐75 
mm rainfall . Experimental results indicated that the crop sown on  
early (6th June ) received greater effective rainfall and also irrigation 
early (6 June ) received greater effective rainfall and also irrigation
water with higher yield 

b Method of sowing
b. Method of sowing

Line sowing at 20 cm apart recorded higher grain yield over     
broadcast seeding sowing in lines at 30 c m apart and transplanted
broadcast seeding, sowing in lines at 30 c m apart and transplanted
rice(Anon. 2003)

p g p p p
close spacing at 15 cm apart produced more panicles/m / 2,, but fewer
grains per panicle. Similarly, a seed rate of 150‐kg/ha produced 
more panicles per square meter but fewer grains per panicle
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Tab 4. Grain yield of aerobic , wet seeded and transplanted 
rice as influenced by method of sowing

Method of establishment
Method of establishment Grain yield 
Grain yield
(t/ha)
Broad cast sown
Broad cast sown‐ Dry 
Dry 2 88
2.88
seeding
Line sown‐ dry seeding
Line sown dry seeding 3.59
Braodcast sprouted‐wet  3.29
seedingg
Transplanting 3.40

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C. Irrigation and Water requirement

In majority of experiments, it was observed that compared to lowland rice

cultivation, the water used by aerobic rice was lower by more than 30‐50%

At Rajendranagar, studies on water requirement of rice revealed that flooded

lowland rice required about 1168 mm of water, whereas aerobic rice used only
726 mm

In Andhra Pradesh studies on performance of aerobic rice under drip and

sprinkler irrigation indicated that drip method of irrigation with 714 mm water
recorded significantly higher grain yields (5208 kg/ha) compared to sprinkler
method of irrigation with 920 mm of water (4092 kg/ha).
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 Tab 5. Yield of aerobic rice (Jagtial sannalu) under drip and sprinkler
method of irrigation

Irrigation  No of  No of  Yield  Water

system tillers m‐2 panicles  (kg/ha) applied
m‐2

Drip 507 460 5208 714

Sprinkler 447 414 4092 920

Tab 6. Water input , water productivity and grain yield of aerobic rice at Hyderabad
Varieties Grain  Effective Irrigation Total Water 
yield  RF productivi
(t/ha) ty (kg/m3)
Varalu 3.87 264 445 709 221.5
Erramallelu 5.28 317 565 882 239.5
JGL 1798
JGL 1798 4.94 322 617 939 210.1
JGL 384 4.68 324 677 1001 187.6
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d Fertilizers
d. Fertilizers
The application of 80 or 100 kg N along with 50 kg each of 
P2O5 and K
d 2O per ha found to give higher yields.
h f d i hi h i ld

Grain yield and all major yield components progressively 
y j y p p g y
increased with increased nitrogen application from 60 to 120 
kg ha

Significant increase in grain yield with increase in N level 
from 60 to 90 and 90 to 150 kg N/ha

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e. Iron deficiency
Iron deficiency is one of the serious
nutritional disorders that encountered
in aerobically grown rice on upland
alkaline and calcareous soils which
were never before under rice
cultivation results in decline in
productivity

Spraying
p y g of Fe SO4 @ 1% and in severe
deficiency even 1.5 to 2.0% along with
0.1% citric acid at weekly intervals 2‐3
times will correct the deficiency and
increases yields

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f. Weed management
f. Weed management
The major constraint in getting higher yields in aerobic rice is weed 
infestation which cause reduction in grain yield
g y

Experiments conducted at many places over India reveled that pre‐
emergence application of  pendimethalin @ 1 kg a.i. ha‐1 followed by HW at 
25‐30  DAS could able to reduce weed intensity considerably

In line sown crop the bullock drawn implements can effectively utilized for 
weed control
d t l

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III. BMP for aerobic rice

1. The field should be prepared during summer with help of pre

monsoon showers by plowing and harrowing. Further ploughings are
to be taken after recipet of monsoon so as to kill the weeds which
germinated earlier (Stale seed bed) to obtain a smooth seed bed.

2. The dry seed has to be sown manually or mechanically at 2‐3 cm

d
deep i rows spaced
in d att 20‐
20 25 cm apartt by
b adopting
d ti a seed
d rate
t off 80
kg/ha.

3
3. Pre emergence application of pendimethalin @ 1.0
1 0 kg a.i/ha
a i/ha followed
by one hand weeding at 25 DAS checks most of the weeds

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4. The total amount of nitrogen (120 kg N/ha) has to be divided into
three splits and applied one at sowing/at 2 weeks after emergence
and remaining two splits at active/maximum tillering and at panicle
initiation stage. The entire P2O5 and K2O @ 40‐60 kg/ha each and
zinc at 20 kg ha‐1 are to be applied as basal.

5. Irrigation after sowing is needed if there is no sufficient rain to

promote uniform emergence. Subsequent irrigation applications
needed when soil moisture tension at top 15‐20 cm reaches ‐20 kPa
during vegetative stage and ‐10 kPa during flowering stage. The
amount of irrigation water should be sufficient to bring the top 20
cm soil to field capacity. Irrigation can be applied by either flash
flood, furrow or sprinkler method.

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6. FeSO4 spraying @ 1.0 1 0 – 1.5%
1 5% may be advocated whenever iron
deficiency is noticed in the field. Spraying has to be repeated 3 times
at weekly intervals depending on the crop recovery.

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IV. Conclusions

The shortage in water has forced to give emphasis on

development of dry seeded rice production technology

With aerobic rice technology , apart from saving water and

raisingg / sustainingg ggrain yyields, anyy system
y of non flooded rice
cultivation may bring other advantages such as maintenance
of soil structure beneficial to non rice crops in the rotation,
timely sowing of succeeding crop after rice, rice extended area
under cultivation in the command of a project

Finally
Fi ll there
h i a need
in d to study
d the
h impact
i off aerobic
bi method
h d
of cultivation on soil fertility, pest and disease buildup and
sustainability in the long term.

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Thank you

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