A global analysis of alternative tillage and crop establishment practices for economically and environmentally efficient rice production.

ABSTRACT: Alternative tillage and rice establishment options should aim at less water and labor to produce similar or improved yields compared with traditional puddled-transplanted rice cultivation. The relative performance of these practices in terms of yield, water input, and economics varies across rice-growing regions. A global meta and mixed model analysis was performed, using a dataset involving 323 on-station and 9 on-farm studies (a total of 3878 paired data), to evaluate the yield, water input, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost and net return with five major tillage/crop establishment options. Shifting from transplanting to direct-seeding was advantageous but the change from conventional to zero or reduced tillage reduced yields. Direct-seeded rice under wet tillage was the best alternativ

SUBMITTER: Chakraborty D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5571152 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature