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While work is always being done to improve rice yields, scientists are focusing on how to make rice production cleaner for the environment and cheaper for the farmers who produce it. One way AgCenter researchers have done this is by altering the amount and frequency that inputs like water and fertilizer are added to rice farms.
In the past year, researchers at the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station have made strides to achieve this, especially with nitrogen fertilizer, and to create environmentally friendly changes to common rice farm management practices.
AgCenter researcher Manoch Kongchum and his team are also working to promote their latest recommendation on how often farmers must apply nitrogen fertilizer in the delayed flood rice system, which currently is recommended twice during the year — once before flooding and once during midseason. However, research is being done to make this process cheaper for farmers by lowering the applications to just one.
“We are trying to get rid of the midseason [application] to reduce cost for hiring an airplane,” Kongchum said.
Kongchum indicated that the optimal yield could be achieved without midseason fertilizer application, and this will allow rice farmers to fertilize just once before they flood their fields. Hiring an airplane can start at around $2,000, making the current recommendation an expensive one for rice farmers.
Research has also recently begun to determine if it is possible to reduce the amount of water that is used every season by farmers. If it is possible to lower water use, this could reduce the cost for pumping and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, like methane, that are commonly released during the flooding period. Early research shows that farmers could reduce the amount of water used by 30% to 40%.
“We don't have to pump all the water all the time. We can stop for some period,” Kongchum said. “We can save the energy for pumping and the greenhouse gas emission.”
This research will continue for at least a few more years to ensure the data collected is accurate.
LSU AgCenter agronomy researchers have also continued to do research on the optimum seed rates, optimal fertilizer requirements and ratooning ability for the newly released varieties.
Some rice fields are used to try out new water management strategies while others have been used for changes to fertilizer applications. Photo by Manoch Kongchum
