{"id":1616,"date":"2018-08-03T17:08:41","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T09:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/?p=1616"},"modified":"2018-08-03T17:08:41","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T09:08:41","slug":"rice-fields-china-double-yields-ratooning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/03\/rice-fields-china-double-yields-ratooning\/","title":{"rendered":"Rice fields in China double yields by \u201cratooning\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Just as grass lawns regrow after they are mowed, rice fields can regrow after they are harvested. This second harvest \u2013 known as a ratoon crop \u2013 has traditionally yielded only a small fraction of the first harvest. But farmers in China are now benefitting from laboratory and field studies conducted by the Joint FAO\/IAEA Division that used nuclear techniques to determine the best rice varieties and the best fertilizer regimes for increasing second harvest yields, often resulting in second harvests as large as the first \u2013 meaning the farmers who ratoon correctly are doubling their yields \u2013 and their income.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cratoon\u201d meaningfully can be traced to two Latin words: retonsus which means \u201cto cut down\u201d and retono which means \u201cto thunder back\u201d. It\u2019s meaningful because when ratoon is used in relation to agriculture, it means both: a crop is \u201ccut down\u201d at harvest, but its roots are left behind and from that stubble, a second crop \u201cthunders back\u201d. Although, realistically, it\u2019s only been recently \u2013 thanks to an increased focus on fertilizer management and plant breeding \u2013 that the second \u201cratoon\u201d crop has returned with any kind of thunderous energy.<\/p>\n

Not all crops can regenerate. For example, maize cannot produce a second crop, but sugarcane, sorghum, pigeon pea and, importantly, rice can. The Joint FAO\/ IAEA Division began working on improving the outcome of rice ratooning \u2013 also called \u201cstubble cropping\u201d \u2013 in China\u2019s Fujian Province in 2012. This included studying fertilizer and water management practices for Jiafuzhan, an early maturing rice variety developed by Chinese plant mutation breeders.<\/p>\n

Appropriate fertilization: for economic and environmental results
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In addition to working with China\u2019s mutation breeders to develop and promote climate-resilient early-yield varieties, the Joint Division used nitrogen-15 stable isotope tracing to determine the optimum application rate for nitrogen fertilizers. Both the nitrogen-15 technology and the mutation induction for developing improved varieties were monitored and fine-tuned in the Joint Division\u2019s Agriculture & Biotechnology Laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria, and then applied in the farmers\u2019 fields.<\/p>\n

The nitrogen-15 technology was able to discern how well the main crop had absorbed the fertilizer, how much was left in the field after the first harvest, and how much more would be needed for the ratoon crop. A major goal is to avoid over-application, which, in addition to being an unnecessary expense, could have environmental implications if the fertilizer is converted as a greenhouse gas and emits into the atmosphere or is washed away and becomes a water pollutant. In this study, the optimum fertilizer application needed for their ratoon harvest was 150 kg of nitrogen per hectare.<\/p>\n

Efficient and economic ratooning requires developing and adopting crop varieties with high ratooning capability plus following the fertilizer management practices prescribed by the study. Success depends on the two being combined. The study found that farmers who adopted the combination of improved varieties and fertilizer management saw yields almost double from 6.7 to 12.3 tonnes per hectare. The only expense they incurred for the second crop was buying the required amount of supplemental fertilizer and the only labour required was having to spread the fertilizer, no replanting was needed.<\/p>\n

Once the results were known, other farmers were eager to adopt the improved varieties and fertilizer management practices, and now ratooning is underway on 42 000 ha. In addition to nearly doubling rice yields, the farmers in Fujian Province saw their profits increase by USD 3 260 per hectare, which, combined with a 30 percent decrease in the cost of fertilizer, has proven extremely beneficial to the province.<\/p>\n

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In the past, many upland farmers had ratooned their rice crops, based solely on their awareness that a second harvest was possible. But their second harvest was much smaller than the first, sometimes dropping from 3 tonnes per hectare to 0.5 tonnes per hectare. At that time, they were happy even with a small second harvest. But now they know that with proper management, their ratoon crop can be almost equal to their main crop.<\/p>\n

The success in China has indicated that improving ratooning yields also has potential for other rice-producing countries in Asia. They know what they will need: a rice variety bred for high ratooning capabilities, and nitrogen management which uses tracing studies to determine the amount of fertilizer needed to support a high yielding second harvest.<\/p>\n

\n

Source<\/strong>: International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as grass lawns regrow after they are mowed, rice fields can regrow after they are harvested. This second harvest \u2013 known as a ratoon crop \u2013 has traditionally yielded only a small fraction of the first harvest. But farmers in China are now benefitting from laboratory and field studies conducted by the Joint FAO\/IAEA… Continue reading Rice fields in China double yields by \u201cratooning\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nRice fields in China double yields by \u201cratooning\u201d - agrinoon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/03\/rice-fields-china-double-yields-ratooning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rice fields in China double yields by \u201cratooning\u201d - agrinoon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just as grass lawns regrow after they are mowed, rice fields can regrow after they are harvested. 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