Yield and economics of rice (Oryza sativa L.) as influenced by rainwater management treatments and crop establishment methods under highrainfall areas of Himachal Pradesh

Many researchers in the recent past have advocated direct seeding as an alternative to transplanting method considering the rising cost of production and non availability of labour at critical time for transplanting Direct seeded rice, however, suffers from heavy weed infestation and leads to quite lower yields. The method though is reported to reduce the cost of cultivation and labour utilization, but whether it is economically viable considering the yield and value cost ratio, still needs to be investigated under high rainfall areas of North Western Himalayas. A field experiment was therefore, conducted during the rainy seasons of I Year and II Year at the Experimental Farm of Department of Soil Science, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur to study the effect of rain water management and crop establishment methods on yield and economics of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Continuous submergence (R₄) proved the best in influencing the grain yield (26.6 and 35.0 q/ha) and was followed by plots with 25cm bund height (R₂) receiving diverted runoff from adjoining maize plots during both the years Gross returns ( 20945 and 32453), net returns ( 10172 and 21748) and value cost ratio (1.94 and 3.04) were found significantly the highest in continuous submergence (R₄) treatment. Transplanting method of rice establishment gave the highest mean grain yield (25.9 and 31.5 q/ha); the increase being 4.7 and 9.9 q/haover sprouted and dry seeding methods during I Year and 5.4 and 12.5 q/ha during II Year. Transplanted rice also recorded higher gross ( 20738 and 29652) and net returns ( 9970 and 18816) as well as value cost ratio during both the years.