Striga can attack plants during the season and even in the following season. So you should now how to protect your rice from striga attacks.
Striga is a parasite weed which is bad for rice, maize and other cereal crops. It attacks the roots of the crops and suck their water and nutrients. Therefore, the plants become sick. Striga produces various little seeds which can mix under the soil.
Managing striga in rice
To protect your rize from striga, you should not plant the rice on the same field every year. After harvesting your rice, plant maize and intercrop it with legumes. The legumes cover the field during and after the season and therefore protect it. This helps to manage striga and enriches the soil again. The best legumes for this intercropping are: cowpea, mucuna, groundnut, rice bean, soya bean, crotalaria or stylosanthes.
When you harvest rice again, sow it into holes, without cleaning the field. Then the legume rests can stay in the soil and protect the rice plants. Furthermore, you can start harvesting earlier and you have less weeds. The legumes also block the sunlight which makes it hard for weeds to grow.
Mineral fertilizers help the crop to grow. The best opportunity is to combine two fertilizer with each other. They give the needed nutrients in a concentrated and balanced way. You could use compound fertiliser like NPK and DAP or single fertiliser like TSP or urea. If you add compost or manure as well you need less mineral fertilizer. The manure brings organic material into the soil and therefore helps to make it moist and fertile.
Some rice sorts are resistent against striga. NERICA 2,3,4,8, and 10 are the most resistant. NERICA 5,9,10 is moderate. You can try out new sorts and look which one you prefer.
