Time of Harvesting:

Harvesting is done in three seasons:

• In kharif season the crop is harvested during October-November.
• In Rabi/Winter season the crop is harvested during April-May.
• In Summer season the crop is harvested during June-July.

Stem borer 

Symptoms of damage:

1. The larvae of the borers enter the tiller, feed, grow and cause the characteristic symptoms of ‘dead hearts’ or ‘white ears’ depending on the crop stage.

2. At tillering stage, the feeding frequently results in severing the apical parts of the plant from the base.

Weed Management

(A) Hand Weeding is advised for 2 times.

(B) Chemical Weeding

(i) Direct Sowing:

        (a) As Post-Emergence: Spray Butachlor 50 E.C. or Thiobencarb 50 E.C. @ 2-3 litre/ha in 700-800 litre of water after 2-3 days of sowing to control all types of weeds.

Manures and Fertilizers

The manures and fertilizers required for paddy cultivation are as follows:

• FYM/Compost: 10~15 Cartload (Compost: N=0.5~0.5%; P=1.5%; K=2.3%)
• Nitrogen: 100~150 Kg/Ha.
• Phosphorous: 50~60 Kg P2O5/Ha. (P = P2O5 x 0.44 & P2O5 = P x 2.29)  
• Potash: 40~50 Kg KO/Ha. (K = K2O x 0.83 & KO = K x 1.20)
• Zinc Sulphate: 25 Kg/Ha. (22~35% Zn)
• Green Manuring Crops: Sanai; Dhaincha; Moong/Urd, etc.

Seed rate, treatment and spacing

A) Seed rate: There are two methods of sowing rice in Bihar. They are

i) Direct Sowing

ii) Transplanting.

The seed rate for direct sowing is 90-100kg/ha and for transplanting is 30-50kg/ha.

B) Seed Treatment: Prior to sowing the seed should be treated with 60gm Seresan 2.5% WP or other Organo Mercurial fungicides by dipping the seed in water.

Sowing and Transplanting:

A) Sowing

• Rice is grown in three seasons. They are Kharif, Rabi/Winter and Summer seasons.
• In kharif season the crop is sown during June.
• In Rabi/Winter season the crop is sown during October – November.
• In summer season the crop is sown during first fortnight of March.

B) Transplanting: The crop is transplanted in the main field at 25-30 days after sowing.

Climatic and Soil requirements

• Climate: The suitable climate for Rice cultivation in Bihar is Temperate climate.
• Rainfall: An average of 120-140cm of rainfall is required for paddy cultivation.
• Temperature: The temperature requirement for paddy in Bihar is 21-37 degree Celsius.
• Soil: The soil suitable for cultivation is heavy to sandy loam.

Suitable varieties recommended for cultivation in Bihar

(A) For Kharif Season

             (a) Upland/Rainfed Condition : Pusa 2-21; Turanta (only 75 days crop); Prabhat (only 90 days crop); C.R. 44-35 (Saket-4); Saroj; Birsa Dhan 105; Birsa Dhan 201; Birsa Dhan 202; Dhanlaxmi; Kanchan; Kalinga -III; Richharia; Aditya; Tulasi; Vandana.

1. In this that water saving would be in the range of 35-40% while curtailing conventional irrigation water requirement of 1700-1800 mm (application efficiency 35-38%) to 1000-1200 mm (application efficiency 40-45%) in aerobic rice: that results in water productivity of 0.45-0.55 g grain'' liter of applied water compared with 0.25-0.30 g grain/ liter of applied water in conventional system

1. Grow a suitable non rice crop after growing aerobic rice in two successive seasons,
2. Grow groundnut, cowpea or green gram during dry season at alternate year in sequence with dry season-wet season aerobic rice system, or growing them at 2 years' interval in sequence with dry season aerobic rice alone.
3. Apply Curbofuran 3G at 33 kg/ha as precautionary measures against rice root -knot nematode (Meloidogyne graminicola), the most prevalent disease.

1. The optimum soil water condition would be maintained around field capacity (30-40 kPa'' 0.3-04 bar soil moisture potential) across the growth stages.
2. Apply irrigation upon visible symptom of developing hair cracks on surface soil, or initiation of tip rolling of first top leaves,
3. Irrigation, applied at this stage attaining the condition of saturated soil moisture regime.
4. Usually, scheduling irrigation at 5-7 days interval may supplement the optimum water requirement in aerobic rice.

1. For N application, use Leaf Colour Chart (LCC)
2. Apply N (Urea) at 20 kg /ha 12 days after crop emergence.
3. Apply 30 kg N/ha at each critical stage of N deficiency as indicated by LCC (scale 4),
4. Apply SSP and MOP, each at 60 kg/ha at sowing.
5. Apply ZnS04 at 20 kg/ha and FeSCi at 30 kg/ha at sowing in deficient soil or upon their deficiency at later stage.

1. Use finger weeder / hand racker, preferably in moist soil after irrigation to keep soil loosen by reducing soil compaction in addition to nip newer weed Hash.
2. Two manual weeding at 3 and 5 weeks* crop growth stage,
3. Alternately, applying pre-emergence herbicide, e.g., Pretilachlor at 1.0 lit/ha within 2-3 days of sowing followed by manual weeding at 5 weeks growth stage

1. Off-season/ summer ploughing at least one month before final land preparation,
2. Seed rate - 40-50 kg/ha , depth of sowing- 2-3 cm. spacing - 15 X 20 cm in wet season and 15X15 cm in dry season.
3. Optimum time of sowing - 1st to 2nd week of December in dry season and 1st- 2nd week of June in wet season.
4. Use manual/ bullock drawn seed drill for small areas, while tractor drawn seed drill for larger areas.
5. Apply well decomposed FYM within furrows during sowing.

Apo, Sahabhagi dhan, Annada - grain yield- 4.5-5.0 t/ha.

1. Rice, on aerobic condition, requires less water as compared with that grown with conventional irrigation.

2. Aerobic rice, basically managed like wheat or maize crops, is used to be grown under un-puddled, non saturated, well drained rainfed bunded upland or medium land conditions.

3. To reap a bountiful harvest in aerobic rice, both suitable variety as well as improved management needs to be adopted concurrent!

1. This system requires ploughing to begin in the center of the field and works out to the edges.
2. It requires some measurement of the field to establish the center point and if done correctly leaves a level field with drainage channels on the edges.
3. This system can be used with all types of ploughs. In very large fields, a number of lands may be ploughed

1. The field is ploughed in runs parallel to each other.
2. It starts at one boundary of the field and ends at the opposite with turns being made on the headlands.
3. This system can only be used for tined implements, rotovators, harrows and reversible ploughs.
4. It is usually the most field efficient system and if equipment is correctly set up and operated should not leave furrows in the field.