Comparative Study on Improved TNAU Drum Seeder with SRI and Conventional Methods of Transplanting
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Author:T. Senthilkumar and V. Kasthuri Thilagam
p-ISSN:0024-9602, e-ISSN:2582-5321, Vol:99, Issue:jul-sep
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.100158
Abstract
An experiment was conducted at Varappur village, Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu to compare
the performance of Improved TNAU drum seeder with SRI method of transplanting and
conventional transplanting in rice cultivation. The row spacing adopted was 20 cm, 25 cm and
20 cm respectively for drum seeder, SRI method planting and conventional planting. The crop
sown with drum seeder was matured 10 days earlier than the other methods. The number of
tillers m -2 recorded was 452 in SRI planting, 405 in drum seeder sowing and 358 in conventional
method. Regarding the water use efficiency water saving was up to 35 per cent in drum
seeder than other methods because of early maturity of crop. The seed rate used was 8 kg
ha -1 , 20 kg ha -1 and 40 kg ha -1 , respectively for SRI method of planting, drum seeder sowing and
conventional method of planting. In the case of labour usage there was 90 per cent saving in
the drum seeder method when compared to the other two methods. 75 per cent time saving
observed in drum seeder sowing in comparison to the other two methods. The SRI method
of planting recorded the highest grain yield (7.05 t ha-1 ) followed by (6.5 t ha-1 ) and conventional
method (5.3 t ha -1 ).
Key words : Rice,drum seeder, SRI, conventional transplanting.