Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development

The present study investigated the adoption status of different crop production practices in direct seeded rice (DSR) in Bathinda district of south-western Punjab. In the study region, traditional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) has shifted to DSR during COVID-19 pandemics; therefore, information of production practices in DSR was largely lacking. The present study included data gathered from 121 respondents (n=67 during kharif-2020 and n=54 during kharif-2021) in semi-structured interview schedule. These results revealed that ~23.9-31.5 per cent of respondents used recommended seed rate (20 kg ha^-1), while a large proportion (~68.5-76.1%) had lower seed rate. About 43.3-48.1 per cent of respondents apply less than recommended fertilizer-N (<150 kg N ha^-1), while 35.8-42.6 per cent respondents apply fertilizer-N between 151 and 200 kg N ha^-1. Fertilizer-P application varied between nil and 97.5 kg P2O5 ha^-1; of which 58.2 and 64.8 per cent applied fertilizer-P <25 kg P2O5 ha^-1. Of the total respondents with <25 kg P2O5 ha^-1 application, ~65.7 per cent were those who skipped fertilizer-P application in DSR. A large proportion of farmers (~63.9%) did not applied fertilizer-K, while ~8.7 per cent farmers applied 20-30 kg K₂O ha^-1 and ~27.4 per cent applied >30 kg K₂O ha^-1. About 27.8-31.3 per cent farmers experience moderate to severe iron (Fe) deficiency in DSR. The number of irrigations varied between 14 and 27; ~20.4-23.9 per cent respondents applied <20 irrigations to DSR, while ~1/3rd of the respondents applied between 21 and 25 irrigations. Only ~25.9-28.4 per cent of the respondents applied first irrigation at recommended time of 21 days after sowing. Majority (~61.5%) of DSR farmers applied pesticide (insecticide + fungicide) 3-4 times, while the proportion of farmers who applied 1-2 foliar application of pesticides was ~25.3 per cent. It was observed that ~13.3 per cent of respondents applied pesticides 5-6 times. The average rice grain yield was 78.4 and 79.5 q ha^-1 during khaif-2020 and 2021, respectively, and there was no yield difference among varieties. Average rice grain yield of CR-212 was ~2.7 per cent lower than PR-126 variety.