Seedling Establishment, Growth, and Yield of Directly Seeded Rice Using Non-Coated Seeds with a Puddling Seeder and Snowmelt Water in Heavy Snow-Fall Region in Japan

Abstract

Non-coated rice seeds were directly seeded with a puddling seeder and snowmelt water in Akita prefecture, a heavy snow-fall region in Japan, to expediate the early limits of seeding. The dry seeds of ”Moeminori” were sown using snowmelt water in late March to early April in 2014 to 2017 (snowmelt water seeding, SW). Pre-germinated seeds were sown in late April (early seeding, ES) and mid-May (ordinary seeding, OS). In SW, coated urea fertilizer was applied as basal nitrogen fertilizer and the total amount of nitrogen fertilizer was greater than that in OS, except in 2014. The percentage of seedling establishment in SW was similar to that in ES and less than that in OS. The number of seedlings per square meter was higher in SW, because the seeding rate in SW was higher than that in ES and OS. In SW, heading date and maturity date were 4 days and 5 days earlier, respectively, than those in OS. The yield in SW tended to be higher than that in OS. These results suggest that SW using a lodging-tolerant cultivar can produce seedling number and yield equal to those in OS when the basal nitrogen fertilizer is coated urea fertilizer, and the fertilization amount and seeding rate are higher than those of OS; therefore, SW can be of practical use.