Reducing water use in rice (March 1992)

Humphreys, E

1992

This IREC Farmers Newsletter article presents the results of research undertaken to investigate the effects of rotary hoeing as a soil treatment for reducing groundwater accessions. There were three steps to the technique and these included flooding the field for two days followed by rotary hoeing the soil to 100-150 mm when the water level was at 20mm. The paddock was then topped up with water required for aerial sowing. The field is then kept flooded for five months or until crop maturity. The author states that the initial results did not indicate any adverse effects in terms of nitrogen up take it actually appeared to slightly improve. They also stated that the challenges for future project and commercial use were evaluating and developing technique for commercial use and ensuring that the hoeing does not make the soil unsuitable for other crops with out expensive re working.