Aerobic rice- the next generation innovation in rice cultivation technology

Rice crop scientists are aware of three facts: a) rice is the second most staple food crop, b) there is an increase in food demand and freshwater crises, and c) rice is a semi-aquatic crop requiring flooding of fields. The overall water use efficiency of the rice crop has been estimated to be very poor in contrast to the actual use of the water required for the current level of bounteous productivity. The lowland rice crops will require only 500 to 1000 litres of water for producing 1 kg of rice which is almost on par with the dryland cereal crops. Therefore rice scientists are working on a new genre of rice cultivars ‘aerobic rice’ which is expected to be irrigated or rainfed without puddling water in the field. This technology limits the use of water within the field capacity, which will serve as a better option than the current water cultivation technologies. This will also require breeding new rice cultivars. The leading pioneers in breeding these kinds of rice cultivars are China (backed by IRRI), Brazil and India.