2007 Volume 76 Issue 4 Pages 508-518
In Japan, no-till direct seeding of rice has been expected to reduce production cost, and thus many trials have been repeated. However, we pointed out that it has problems for practical use such as low seedling emergence rate, bird attack on seed or seedling and difficulty with weed control due to rough field surface and crop residue derived from the previous cropping. Therefore, this study aimed to improve no-till direct seeding by applying the winter puddling (WP) as a land preparation method prior to seeding, which may help solve those problems. WP has been practiced by local farmers in Anjo, Aichi, for leveling the field switched from upland to paddy field. Almost all the trials in this study were conducted in farmers'fields. Results showed that seedling emergence was improved, seedling stand number was increased, the bird attacks were substantially reduced and weeds were more easily controlled in WP sites as compared with the complete no-till sites. Furthermore, the soil of field surface of WP site became as hard as that of the complete no-till field, in which seeding was possible even right after rainfall. The seedling emergence number and the grain yield were not lower than those of conventional transplanting rice culture. These results clearly show that WP is very effective to stabilize the no-till rice culture and with this method, no-till direct seeding can be practically used in the farmers' fields.
