Introduction

• Main objective of wet nursery is to obtain healthy, vigorous and

uniform seedlings of appropriate age for transplanting as they

establish themselves faster, grow better and give maximum yield.

• Sprouted seeds sown on moist puddled soil in wet nurseries which

are preferred under irrigated condition.

Land Preparation

• Add well decomposed

organic manures and/or

fertilizers as needed.

Irrigate, plow, puddle and

level the field as done in

conventional methods.

Traditional method of land preparation

• Apply chemical fertilizers @ 1.5 kg ammonium sulfate, 1 kg di

calcium phosphate, 1 kg potassium chloride per 100 sq meter

nursery. Spread these fertilizers all over the nursery.

Land Preparation

Puddling : land preparation

Leveling of seed bed surface

Preparation of seed beds

• Beds 2.5 m wide and 4-5 cm high are prepared. Their length may

vary from 8 -10 m depending on the soil and slope. 800 m2 nursery

could produce seedlings sufficient for one hectare area.

• Prepare 30cm wide channels on all sides of the seedbeds. The soil

from the channels is spread on the beds. Raising the height of

beds facilitates proper drainage in the beds.

Seed Selection and Rate

Variety

• Selection of appropriate variety is essential to obtain good crop

yield.

• Varieties suitable for rice production in a particular region are

developed by local research stations.

• Certified, healthy seeds should be obtained authentic sources for

optimum nursery production.

Seed Rate

30 kg for long duration 60 kg for short duration

20 kg for hybrids varieties 40 kg for medium duration

Seed Treatments

Dry Seed Treatment (Chemical):

• Treatment with fungicide like Bavistin or Thiram @ 2 g/kg seeds

Wet Seed Treatment (Chemical):

• Treatment protects seedlings from blast up to transplanting.

• Soak 1 kg seeds in 2g Carbendazim or Pyroquilon or Tricyclozole

solution in 1L water for 2 hrs.

• Drain the solution, sprout the seeds and sow in the nursery bed.

Seed Treatments

Dry treatment of seeds with Thiram

Wet Treatment of rice seeds.

1. Pseudomonas fluorescens:

• Seeds soaked in talc based Pseudomonas fluorescens overnight

@ 10g/L water/kg seeds. Excess water drained, seeds sprouted

and then sown.

• It controls bacterial sheath blight.

2. Azospirillum:

• Bio-inoculant: 600g/ha Azospirillum & 600g/ha PSB or 1200g/ha

Azophos.

• Seeds soaked overnight in bio-inoculant mixed with water.

• Can be mixed with biofertilizers for seed soaking.

• Fungicides and biocontrol agents are incompatible

Biological Seed Treatments

Sowing of Seeds

• Sow 2.5 kilograms of paddy

on nursery of 40 m2. Seed

bed should have only a thin

film of water over the soil.

• Sow sprouted seeds

uniformly on the

seedbed.

• Cover the seeds with a thin

layer of very fine soil.

1. Sowing of pretreated seeds

2. Covering of seeds with soil

3. Bed sown with seeds

Water Management

• Drain water from bed 18-24 hrs after sowing. Avoid stagnation of

water.

• Allow enough water to saturate the soil from 3rd-5th day. Increase

water depth to 1.5cm depending

on seedling height. Later on,

maintain 2.5cm depth of water.

Maintain 2.5cm depth water in seed bed

Weed Management

• Apply pre-emergence herbicides

Pretilachlor +Safener 0.3kg/ha, on

3rd or 4th day after sowing to control

weeds. 

• Keep a thin film of water before

applying the herbicide and avoid

draining it. 

Application of herbicide in a rice nursery

Nutrient Management

• Apply 1 ton well decomposed FYM or compost for 1 ha nursery.

• For less fertile soils, apply 40kg of DAP or apply straight fertilizers

16kg of urea and 120kg of super phosphate, before last puddling.

• Basal application of DAP is also recommended 10 days before

pulling out the seedlings.

• 4kg of gypsum and 1kg of DAP is applied at 10 days after sowing

in clayey soils where root snapping is a problem.