Rice is a tropical crop that generally grows in water logged areas and requires temperatures 20 – 30 degrees on a gentle land surface. On the other hand upland rice does not requires puddling.
It should be noted that upland rice mature faster and requires less land preparations than low land rice variety however it is better to grow rice on heavy clay soils because of its high water requirement and also clay soils have a high water retention capacity. Different rice growth stages require water differently juvenile stage that needs just enough water for normal growth but more water is needed at the peak stage to add on that or areas with adequate rain fall use upland rice variety.
Proper practices
First clear land, construct embarkments that are used for water retention then plough, harrow and puddle to minimize deep water percolation, ease transplanting, reduce weed growth and to incorporate oxygen in top soil.
Additionally control major diseases such as blast, brown spots and green discolouration through using resistant varieties, good cultural practices to eliminate blast rust, limit use of nitrogen that contains less potassium to reduce blast incidences, use clean healthy seeds that have been treated to control seed borne pathogens and where plants are prone to fungal diseases spray with recommended chemicals.
Lastly where labour is expensive use broadcasting planting method however but it limits seed germination incase they fall in further soils due to lack of oxygen contrary where labour is cheap manually transplant mostly for paddy rice at spacing of 30 x 30 cm to limit weed growth and suppress tillering.
