Background

Dry direct seeding (DDS) is an innovative method for establishing rice crops by sowing  ungerminated seeds directly into dry soil. This approach offers significant advantages  over traditional transplanting, such as lower water usage, reduced labor inputs, and  compatibility with mechanization. In the Western Indo-Gangetic Plain (WIGP), intensive  water demands from transplanted rice have led to aquifer depletion, while long duration varieties promote straw burning pollution due to insufficient time for natural  decomposition. Adopting short-duration varieties with DDS can mitigate these issues. 

DDS, combined with effective water management, significantly lowers methane  emissions and is gaining traction in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh due to  labor and water shortages. It also benefits Eastern India by enhancing crop maturity,  drought resilience, and overall profitability by facilitating timely rice and subsequent wheat plantings. However, few rice varieties are specifically bred for DDS conditions, as  most breeding occurs in puddled, transplanted fields.

The DDS environment presents challenges like increased weed competition and  reduced nutrient availability, necessitating additional agricultural inputs. Although  some transplanted varieties perform adequately under DDS, achieving genetic gains in  these conditions demands dedicated breeding efforts. Ideal DDS traits include  tolerance to anaerobic germination and deeper sowing, rapid seedling growth, robust  tiller formation under variable soil moisture, high biomass production, and resilience to  temporary unsaturated soils during reproductive phases. Developing varieties with  these traits would enhance water efficiency, cut labor costs, ease women’s workload,  and support better crop residue management. 

Objectives

The project aims to mitigate greenhouse gas emission, specifically methane, by  reducing the length of time during which soils are saturated in rice fields on the  Indo-Gangetic Plain. The technologies developed are expected to greatly benefit  women household laborers by eliminating time devoted to transplanting and  compared to previous DDS systems, by reducing the time spent in weeding the  rice fields.

Published Date: August 1, 2025