Technical Paper
The utilization of paddy rotations for organic farming in Northern Kanto Region: A case study in Tochigi Prefecture
2015 Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 4-8
Details
2015 Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 4-8
Paddy rotation can suppress paddy weed, produce rice, wheat, barley and soybean with low external inputs using soil fertility, but the scientific basis of utilization of paddy rotation for organic farming is very limited. An organic farm that rotates rice-barley/wheat-soybean on a volcanic ash soil suitable to paddy rotation was investigated during from 2009 to 2010 in Tochigi prefecture. In 2009, the yield of rice, wheat, barley and soybean was 586g/m2, 320g/m2, 300g/m2 and 146g/m2, respectively. In 2010, that was 560g/m2, 249g/m2, 234g/m2and 170g/m2, respectively. On the contrary, the yield of rice in continuous paddy fields was only 357g/m2 in 2009 and 320g/m2 in 2010. Paddy weed was suppressive both in number and in dry weight of paddy rotation compared to continuous paddy. Thus, with the paddy rotation of rice-barley/wheat-soybean, it may be possible to attain total yield of up to 1,000g/m2 over two years, only with 60g/m2 of rice bran for rice and 90g/m2 of fermented rice brand for barley and wheat as basal fertilizers. Based on the mineralizable to total N ratio, no soil fertility decline was observed due to the paddy rotation.
