Sudhanshu Singh

• PhD, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines
• Rainfed Lowland Agronomist, South Asia at International Rice Research Institute

Water scarcity, labor constraints, and the need for sustainable farming practices have highlighted the limitations of traditional rice transplanting methods, driving interest in Direct Seeded Rice (DSR). To address these challenges, a precision hill seeder was developed and evaluated under puddled soil conditions to enhance efficiency, productivity...

Climate change is increasingly impacting agriculture with rising temperatures, variable rainfall, and more frequent extreme weather events. This is particularly concerning for rice production in South Asia. Frontier technologies such as big data analytics (BDA), machine learning (ML), remote sensing (RS), and Internet of Things (IoT) are critical i...

Silicon fertilizer for increasing rice yields in the coastal salt affected soils

The potential of Indian agriculture in atmospheric CO2 capture and its role in enabling farmers to monetize C credits is critical to climate change mitigation strategies. This potential is especially significant given the vast and diverse agricultural landscapes across India, which inherently possess the capacity for considerable C sequestration. T...

Water scarcity is a critical issue in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide, necessitating efficient irrigation methods in agriculture. This study evaluated the effectiveness of surface and subsurface drip irrigation systems in direct-seeded rice (DSR) followed by zero-till wheat or maize, compared to conventional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) sys...

The sustainable management of rice straw and the efficient cultivation of wheat crops are integral components of agricultural practices in the Punjab region, where rice and wheat are staple crops. However, the management of rice straw remains a persistent challenge, it is estimated that about 20 million tonnes of rice straw left in the field after...

The potential of Indian agriculture in atmospheric CO 2 capture and its role in enabling farmers to monetize C credits is critical to climate change mitigation strategies. This potential is especially significant given the vast and diverse agricultural landscapes across India, which inherently possess the capacity for considerable C se-questration....

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are essential in soil carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling in rice-based cropping systems (RBCS). AMF generally form symbiotic associations with the roots of most plants, including rice, and help them to acquire nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen from the soil. In return, the plant provides the fungus...

In the pursuit of Sustainable Agriculture Practices for Food Security, we delve into environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural techniques, aiming to ensure long-term food security. This theme encompasses a wide range of strategies to enhance the resilience of agricultural systems, improve crop yields, and safeguard nutrition for all

Variable climate resulting in floods, and labor-intensive manual rice transplanting are the major challenges in rice cultivation in Assam, India. Our study aimed to improve rice-rice systems productivity through submergence tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) and mechanical puddled transplanted rice (MTR). On-farm experiments were conducted in four ric...

To increase rice yields and feed billions of people, it is essential to enhance genetic gains. However, the development of new varieties is hindered by longer generation times and seasonal constraints. To address these limitations, a speed breeding facility has been established and a robust speed breeding protocol, SpeedFlower is developed that all...

Variable climate resulting in floods, and labor-intensive manual rice transplanting are the major challenges in rice cultivation in Assam, India. Our study aimed to improve rice-rice systems productivity through submergence-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) and mechanical puddled transplanted rice (MTR). On-farm experiments were conducted in four ric...

A considerable part of the rice area in northeastern India is cultivated only in a single season resulting in large areas remaining fallow. The region is endowed with a suitable environment for cultivating another crop in these rice-fallow areas to sustainably enhance agricultural diversification resulting in increased cropping intensity, productio...

In India, cereal crops produce the majority of crop residues (58%), followed by fiber crops (23%). In the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, rice–wheat is the predominant cropping system, where 81% of rice and 48% of wheat stubbles produced are burnt, whereas only 7% of rice and 45% of wheat straw are used as fodder. The growing use of combine ha...

Context or problem In the Indian state of Odisha, rice-based system productivity is poor due to: (i) low rice yield in the monsoon (wet) season (2–4 t ha⁻¹ compared to 6–8 t ha⁻¹ in Punjab or Haryana); and (ii) limited cropping during the post-monsoon (dry) season (59% of the wet season rice area is left fallow in the dry season). Objective Our st...

Rice-fallow areas have significant potential to sustainably increase agricultural intensification to address growing global food demands while simultaneously increasing farmers’ income by harnessing the residual soil moisture in rainfed ecologies. Assam is the largest rice-growing belt in northeast India during kharif; however, for the next rabi se...

Recurrent flood inundation is a major concern in the highly fertile alluvial plains in Assam where agriculture is the primary occupation of majority of the floodplain population. Delineation of flood-prone areas, and thereby identification of the areas vulnerable to such hazards, is very important for introducing suitable flood-tolerant varieties,...

Weed competitive ability of six rice cultivars including three hybrids [Arize 6129 (short duration); Arize 6444 (medium duration), Arize Dhani (long duration)] and three varieties [Swarna Shreya (short duration); Rajendra Sweta (medium duration); MTU 7029 (long duration)] was evaluated under three weed pressures i.e. low weed pressure [pre-emergenc...

Direct seeded rice (DSR) avoids nursery raising, seedling uprooting, puddling, and transplanting, and thus reduces the labour requirement. Conventional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) requires much labour in the critical operation of transplanting, which often results in a labor shortage during the peak period of transplanting operations. DSR squar...

Sub-optimal wheat productivity in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plain of India can largely be attributed to delayed sowing and the use of short duration varieties. The second week of November is the ideal time for sowing wheat in eastern India, though farmers generally plant later. Late-sowing farmers tend to prefer short-duration varieties, leading to...

Sub-optimal wheat productivity in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plain of India can largely be attributed to delayed sowing and the use of short duration varieties. The second week of November is the ideal time for sowing wheat in eastern India, though farmers generally plant later. Late-sowing farmers tend to prefer short-duration varieties, leading to...

Silicon (Si) is the most abundant element after oxygen on the Earth’s crust (Oxygen 45.5%, Silicon 27.2%) and it has been found beneficial nutrient element for rice. Silicon plays an important role in rice plants to overcome the abiotic and biotic stresses. In the coastal areas, Si role is more important as this area witnessed frequent floods, drou...

A field experiment was conducted during rainy seasons of 2018 and 2019 at the ICAR-Research Complex for Eastern Region Patna, Bihar to evaluate the effect of crop establishment methods and weed management treatments on weeds and productivity of direct-seeded rice (DSR). The treatments consisted of three upland DSR establishment methods, viz. zero-t...

India will need to produce 30% more wheat by 2050, and these gains must principally come from intensification in eastern India where low productivity is common. Through a dense network of on-farm surveys for the rice–wheat system in this region, we show that contemporary wheat sowing dates have a central influence on achieved and attainable yields,...

Zinc (Zn) is increasingly recognized as an essential trace element in the human diet that mediates a plethora of health conditions, including immune responses to infectious diseases. Interestingly, the geographical distribution of human dietary Zn deficiency overlaps with soil Zn deficiency. In South Asia, Zn malnutrition is high due to excessive c...

Maize is the primary staple crop cultivated during the monsoon season in eastern India. However, yield gaps are large because of multiple factors, including low adoption rates of good agronomic management practices. This study aimed to narrow the maize yield gap using diverse agronomic and varietal interventions through field experiments over 2 yea...

To meet out the food requirement of India’s burgeoning population (currently1.37 billion and likely 1.64 billion by 2050) is imperative. Equally important is also to sustainably produce more food at less cost, improve water and labour productivity, and reverse the trend of natural resource degradation including environmental pollution. In the backg...

Climate variability, including changes in rainfall and temperature regimes, results in changes in occurrence and intensity of extreme events such as floods and droughts (IPCC, 2013). Climate related changes in local and regional weather conditions will affect agriculture adversely in the developing countries and a detailed profile of impacts of suc...

Stress incidence in agriculture, accentuated by the increasing variability in interannual and seasonal climatic patterns has become a recurrent troubling affair for the smallholder paddy farmers of Assam. Flood and drought incidence have intensively permeated the agricultural landscape of the state, consequently affecting yield, income and liveliho...

Cereals Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) studied the potential advantage of early wheat sowing (EWS) to increase wheat productivity even in the environmental constraint of relatively high temperatures during the first half of November as well as during the last ten days of its terminal phase. This publication highlights the potential...

The slightly higher temperature at the time of sowing and abrupt rise in temperature near the end of the growing season limit the wheat yield in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGP). This variation considered, these ecologies are sub-optimal environments for wheat. For the past many decades, it has been argued that early maturing wheat vari...

The agricultural production system in the NER is predominantly rainfed, mono-cropped at subsistence level. The farm landholdings in most of NER are very small, undulating, fallow in one or the other season with lesser productivity and low cropping intensity, and huge qualitative and quantitate losses occur during various manual operations. As mecha...

Stress incidence in agriculture, accentuated by the increasing variability in interannual and seasonal climatic patterns has become a recurrent troubling affair for the smallholder paddy farmers of Assam. Flood and drought incidence have intensively permeated the agricultural landscape of the state, consequently affecting yield, income and liveliho...

The Assam state agriculture has been facing multiple challenges, including losses done by the flood to field crops, poor adoption of latest technologies and lesser use of mechanisation leading to decreased state agricultural production. To meet the growing demand for food grains and other food and non-food commodities, expansion of farm mechanizati...

The objective of this research is to critically analyse potential cropping system (s), suitable establishment methods of rice, and optimal sowing time of rabi season crops in order to improve the system productivity and profitability.

Scaling Readiness Agronomy Innovation Profile is a custom version of the Innovation profile for the needs of the CGIAR Initiative Excellence in Agronomy Initiative. It includes the Innovation Profile Sheet, Innovation Readiness analytics, recommended strategic options for increasing the Innovation Readiness and an extended list of evidence resource...

Convergence, collaboration, and inclusion proved to be the keys for preparing the agricultural sector in managing unforeseen situations in the future. The Convergence Platform, developed in Bihar under the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia prior to the pandemic, presents a possible model where major players collaborate, innovate, and deliver...

Poor early growth and uneven crop establishment are reported as the major bottlenecks in wide-scale adoption and optimal yield realization of dry direct-seeded rice (DSR). Seed priming can potentially help overcome these problems in DSR. Therefore, laboratory and field studies were conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India, durin...

India, predominantly an agricultural country and agriculture sector involving 58 per cent of the population, contributes 18 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP). Rice plays a critical role in the food security and economic growth of India, with the largest area (44.5mha) worldwide, and the 2nd highest production after China. In Assam, Agric...

Dry direct seeded rice (DSR) has emerged as an economically viable alternative to pud-dled transplanted rice to address emerging constraints of labor and water scarcity and the rising cost of cultivation. However, wide adoption of DSR is seriously constrained by weed management trade-off. Therefore, the availability of effective weed control option...

The improvement in the paddy yield due to timely transplanting has its own logic. For translating the lesson learned from high yield producing states like Punjab and Haryana, is that the policies in the eastern states should focus on timely transplanting and services needed to achieve that goal. Such data sets are more useful than small experiments...

Implications of techniques of crop establishment on rice cultivation across states .Rice is traditionally grown by transplanting 4- to 6-week-old seedlings into puddled fields, which are prepared by ploughing under ponded water conditions. Puddling, a soil management operation, reduces soil permeability, controls weeds, facilitates transplanting o...

Tips for Improved Broadcast Direct Seeded Rice

• Another important issue which farmers come across is mixture of different varieties in paddy crop. It is observed that many farmers are sowing paddy nursery by broadcasting the seed in dry field followed by irrigation. This practice results in germination of seed which was shed last year in the field. To overcome this problem, farmers are advised...

This study was conducted over 3 years in a salt-affected coastal rainfed lowland ecosystem. Farmers most commonly grow tall rice varieties in the wet season to cope with flash and/or stagnant floods, leading to large amounts of rice residue production. Most of the land remains fallow during the dry season because of increased salinity and scarcity...

In many parts of Eastern India that have a very high prevalence of rural poverty and food insecurity, the prevailing rice establishment practice of ‘beushening’ is characterized by low yields and modest profitability, while labor and energy inputs are high. Beushening consists of broadcasting ungerminated rice seed at high rates (>100 kg ha−1) prio...

An experiment was conducted during 2014 and 2015 at Canning Town, West Bengal, to study the influence of neem-coated urea and its application methods on nitrogen uptake and use-efficiency of ‘Amal-Mana’ rice (Oryza sativa L.).The experiment was laid out in in randomized block design, consisting of 10 treatments, viz., T1, applica�tion of 50% N as p...

● The rainfall in the Eastern states is more than that in Punjab, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh, but the underlying problem of access to electricity-based tubewell irrigation is still unresolved. This problem is more serious in years with a delayed rainfall or when the number of rainy days is less– a regular feature now with the advent of climate cha...

Submergence of lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields during the wet season in coastal regions adversely affects survival and productivity of rice. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive wet seasons in 2016 and 2017 at ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Canning Town, West Bengal to evaluate the p...

In many parts of Eastern India that have a very high prevalence of rural poverty and food insecurity, the prevailing rice establishment practice of 'beushening' is characterized by low yields and modest profitability, while labor and energy inputs are high. Beushening consists of broadcasting ungerminated rice seed at high rates (>100 kg ha − 1) pr...

Post-harvest losses occur due to poor storage system, which deteriorates seed quality. All traditional storage systems like jute bags, PVC/woven bags, clay pots, drums etc. are not really hermetic and can’t store seed or grain safely for longer time. It would be difficult to measure the loss due to physiological changes in seed at the farm level. A...

Emerging evidence supports the intuitive link between chronic health conditions associated with air pollution and the vulnerability of individuals and communities to COVID-19. Poor air quality already imposes a highly significant public health burden in Northwest India, with pollution levels spiking to hazardous levels in November and early Decembe...

Besides genetic improvement for developing stress-tolerant cultivars, agronomic management may also add considerable tolerance against different abiotic stresses in crop plants. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of six different spacing treatments (S1: 10 × 10 cm; S2: 15 × 10 cm; S3:15 × 15 cm; S4:20 × 10 cm; S5: 20 × 15 cm; S6: 20 × 20...

A field investigation was conducted during the rainy seasons of 2016 and 2017 on clay-loam soil of upland rainfed ecosystem of Bihar, to evaluate the performance of 7 rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes (‘Swarna Shreya’, ‘IR 84899-B-179-13-1-1-1’, ‘IR 83929-B-B-291-2-1-1-2’, ‘IR 84887-B-158-7-1-1-4’, ‘IR 84899-B-183-20-1-1-1’, ‘IR 84894-143-CRA-17-1’...

Emerging evidence supports the intuitive link between chronic health conditions associated with air pollution and the vulnerability of individuals and communities to COVID-19. Poor air quality already imposes a highly significant public health burden in Northwest India, with pollution levels spiking to hazardous levels in November and early Decembe...

Performance of eight rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes ('Swarna Shreya', 'IR84899-B-179-13-1-1-1','IR83929-B-B-291-2-1-1-2','DRR-42','IR84899-B-183-20-1-1-1','IR84894-143-CRA-17-1','DRR-44','Rajendra Bhagwati') was evaluated in three weed management practices, i.e. application of pendimethalin @1.0 kg/ha as pre-emergence (PE) at 2 days after sowing...

Performance of eight rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes ('Swarna Shreya', 'IR84899-B-179-13-1-1-1','IR83929-B-B-291-2-1-1-2','DRR-42','IR84899-B-183-20-1-1-1','IR84894-143-CRA-17-1','DRR-44','Rajendra Bhagwati') was evaluated in three weed management practices, i.e. application of pendimethalin @1.0 kg/ha as pre-emergence (PE) at 2 days after sowing...

Rice is the major food staple for millions of people in coastal flood-prone areas of South and Southeast Asia. In India, these areas are distributed over nine states (Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal) and four union territories (Andaman and Nicobar, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, and Pud...

Two field experiments were conducted at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tarahara, Nepal during 2012 and 2013 to determine the effect of agronomic management on growth and yield of Swarna Sub1 under flash floods. The first experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replications; and four different nutrient combinations at nurs...

Conventionally managed rice-wheat systems of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (E-IGP) that rely on soil puddling for rice and intensive tillage for wheat are low-yielding and resource-inefficient, leading to low profitability. While a host of alternative tillage and crop establishment (TCE) methods have been advocated as solutions for sustainably e...

Odisha is an agrarian state with 70% of the state’s population depending on agriculture and allied sector. Even though the quantum of rainfall in Odisha is quite high, its distribution during monsoon period is highly uneven and erratic. As a result, flood and drought occur regularly with varying intensity impacting the production of kharif rice whi...

Direct-seeded rice (DSR) is significant in modern day agriculture because it requires less water input (20%) and labour (65-80 person-days/ha). Moreover, it enables farmers to establish rice early, which allows the crop stand more power to resist flush flood happening more frequently in the beginning of the monsoon. Direct-seeded rice produces at p...

Performance of eight rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes (IR 83383–B–B–129–4, IR 83387–B–B–27–4, IR88867–9–1–1–4, IR88964–24–2–1–4, IR88964–11–2–2–4, IR88966–39–1–4–4, Rajendra Sweta and Rajendra Bhagwati) were evaluated in different levels of nitrogen (N) application, i.e. control, 50% RDN (60 kg N/ha), 100% RDN (120 kg N/ha) and 150% RDN (180 kg N/h...

Poor productivity of rice in rainfed lowlands is due to complete submergence as it is a major abiotic stress of these regions. For enhancing the rice productivity of these areas, better nutrient management options are required and results may even better when combined with stress tolerant cultivars, even when tested under natural conditions of farm...

The effect of improved practice [IP; gypsum application @ 25% gypsum requirement (GR) +10 t/ha press mud] over existing practice (EP; gypsum application @ 50% GR) on rice productivity and profitability in sodic soils (pH 9.2–10.4) was evaluated at farmers' fields for 3 years during 2011–14 in Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh, India. All growth para...

Farmers in the rainfed salt-affected coastal areas of eastern India face challenges of flooding, salinity, scarcity of irrigation water, and insufficient rainfall that affect crop production and environmental sustainability. This study evaluated three rice establishment methods [dry-seeded rice (DSR), non-puddled transplanted rice (Non-PTR), and pu...

Farmers in the rainfed salt-affected coastal areas of eastern India face challenges of flooding, salinity, scarcity of irrigation water, and insufficient rainfall that affect crop production and environmental sustainability. This study evaluated three rice establishment methods [dry-seeded rice (DSR), non-puddled transplanted rice (Non-PTR), and pu...

Common abiotic stresses in rainfed rice areas like drought can occur at any phase of crop growth and may occur periodically. Variation in intensity and severity of drought requires the use of different rice varieties and different nutrient management strategies. This study evaluated the morphological and physiological response of contrasting rice c...

Anthropogenic climate change results from developmental activities across various sectors including agriculture. Threats resulting from these have variously been proposed to be manageable with mitigation and adaptation mechanisms by the stakeholders. The population inhabiting the less favoured environments is much more vulnerable to climate change....

APART, is providing technical support to the Department of Agriculture (DoA)-Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) and AAU centers viz., Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVKs), Regional Agricultural Research Stations (RARSs), and Horticultural Research Station (HRS) for implementation of APART around following specific objectives: I. Strengthening...

Better-bet Agronomic practices for improving productivity and profitability of rice-based cropping systems in Assam

In flood-prone areas, rice must have flood tolerance characteristics either through genotypic selections or by nutrient application management strategies. The current study was conducted at ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna during the wet season to investigate the effect of post-flood nutrient application methods on submerged rice sur...

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharifl seasons ot 2014 and 2015 at Patna, Bihar to optimise the seeding rates and nitrogen scheduling for direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) under the rainfed drought-prone environment. The soil of the experimental plot was loamy, low in organic carbon (0.42) and available N (149.6 kg/ha), high...