Experts shed light on management of stubble using happy seeder

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 3

Out of different ways and means of managing rice straw, sowing of wheat with happy seeder without burning rice straw is the best option. Technically, sowing wheat with happy seeder is not only eco- friendly, but its continuous use for three years also results in increasing grain yield along with significant improvement in soil health. Farmers after following a few tips can obtain high yield of wheat sown with happy seeder.

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has already recommended the use of happy seeder for the sowing of wheat in the standing rice stubbles without burning rice straw after harvesting of the rice fields with harvesting combine in the year 2006.

“After harvesting rice crop with the harvesting combines fitted with super SMS, sow wheat with PAU happy seeder. The super SMS fitted on the combine helps in chopping the rice straw and spread the chopped straw uniformly in the fields and farmers do not find any difficulty in the sowing of wheat. This way the chopped rice straw spread in the field acts as mulch. With this technique farmers are able to manage whole of the rice straw in the field itself,” said Dr R K Gupta, Senior Soil Chemist from Department of Soil Science (PAU).

“Sowing wheat using happy seeder in these fields is certainly different than the sowing of wheat following conventional methods (by removing rice straw or incorporating rice straw in the field). Therefore, you need to keep some special points in mind for obtaining higher yields of wheat sown with happy seeder,” added Dr Gupta further.

Wheat sown with happy seeder as compared to conventional sowing of wheat demands different practices of fertilizer and water application because of the presence of rice straw in the field.

She added that farmers should keep in mind that in happy seeder sown wheat, there was sufficient moisture in the fields due to the presence of chopped straw in between the wheat rows. In case, the moisture is enough, then delay the first irrigation by 4-5 days.