Limiting the rate of empty grains for the summer-autumn rice crop

In rice production, one of the issues that people are currently very concerned about is the high rate of empty grains in the summer-autumn crop. This is also one of the factors that greatly affects the productivity and efficiency of rice cultivation. Because in reality, if we apply good measures to increase rice productivity, but the rice fields are often empty, all efforts become meaningless. Rice productivity can be seriously reduced due to empty rice.

There are many causes of rice being empty in the summer-autumn rice crop, but it must be said that lodging is the main cause and causes the most empty rice. The percentage of empty rice depends on whether the rice field is empty during different growth periods of the rice plant. If the rice field is empty before and immediately after flowering, the empty rice rate is very high and the rice yield will decrease significantly. On the other hand, if the rice field is empty, hiring workers to cut it is also difficult and the price is higher than that of standing rice fields, leading to an increase in the cost of rice production.

The causes of rice being empty are:

- Due to the producers applying inappropriate technical factors such as sowing at too high a density, fertilizing with an imbalance between nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, mainly fertilizing too much nitrogen in the final stage, causing the rice plant to develop leaves too strongly, making the rice stem weak and leading to falling, the rice flowers that emerge are soaked in water and cannot be pollinated, causing the rice grains to be empty.

- Due to the impact of external factors such as heavy rain and strong winds. If the rice flowers and encounters a storm, the rate of empty grains will be very high. Weather that is too hot, too cold, or cloudy without sunlight also makes pollination poor, leading to empty grains.

- Due to varieties: there are rice varieties that often have a high rate of empty grains in the summer-autumn crop such as IR64, Jasmin85. Varieties that often have a low rate of empty grains in the summer-autumn crop such as OM1490, OM2517... Tall rice varieties will often fall over in the summer-autumn crop, increasing the rate of empty grains.

- Due to pests and diseases: during the flowering period, rice is often affected by pests such as leaf rollers, leaf blast, and neck blast. Rice fields severely damaged by these pests will cause many rice fields to become sterile.

By understanding and understanding the causes of rice grain failure, we will be able to come up with effective solutions to proactively reduce the rate of rice grain failure, thereby maintaining productivity.

Specific measures to limit falls are:

+ Use hard rice varieties: in the summer-autumn crop, most short-term high-yield rice varieties have hard straw such as OM1490, CS2000, OM2517... Fragrant rice varieties, long-term rice varieties, and seasonal rice varieties often have tall plants and weak straw.

+ Arrange suitable crop season: summer-autumn crop in the Mekong Delta, in October and November, there are often prolonged heavy rains and floods, so it is necessary to arrange the crop season appropriately to harvest before the flood comes.

+ Prepare the soil thoroughly before planting to allow the roots to develop strongly, which will help the rice plants become stronger.

+ Applying sparse sowing measures such as sowing in rows, the amount of seed sown is from 100-120 kg/rice/ha to ensure ventilation in the rice field to reduce pests and diseases.
+ Need to balance fertilizer between nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Nitrogen fertilizer should be applied according to the leaf color chart to meet the growth needs of rice plants and not waste nitrogen fertilizer. Pay attention to potassium fertilizer to make rice plants stronger.

+ Regularly visit the fields, when pests are detected at a harmful level, they need to be treated immediately. Before and after the rice blooms, spraying Till Supfer will prevent some diseases and increase rice grain fertility, making the rice color shiny.

+ Regulating water in rice fields, it is best to drain the water before the rice plants enter the plowing stage, both to create ventilation in the rice fields and to allow the roots to grow deep into the soil. Drain the water for about 7 days, then add water and control the water level at 5-10cm until the rice is ripe. Drain all the water 10 days before harvesting the rice.

According to (Online Agricultural Market) - LY