Novel Methodology in Rice Farming using Futuristic Technologies

Direct seeding in rice is a cost-effective technique of cost establishment. To overcome the inherent problems associated with direct seeding like heavy weed infestation, and non-uniform crop stand, use of pre-seeded mulch has been developed. The labour consumption in the preparation of pre-seeded mulch is enormous that makes this technology non-viable. A machinery with appropriate control units has been developed which puts punches on the organic sheet as per the crop spacing, applies glues at this spots, puts pre germinated seeds in these spots, cover it with a strip of paper, dries and rolls the seeded sheets at the other end of the machine using a single controller. The performance of the sheets in comparison with the handmade sheets shows that there is not much difference in terms of number of seeds per spots, spacing, missing hills and germination of the seeds.