A RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY

OF AGRICULTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR A BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN
AGRICULTURE (GENERAL)

UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI

BUNDA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

P.O. BOX 219

LILONGWE.

3RD FEBRUARY 2014`

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introductio…………………………………………………………………3
1.1 History of rice……………………………………………………3
1.2 Botany of rice…………………………………………………………3
2.0 Problem Statement and Justification…………………………4
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3.0 Objectives…………………………………………………………………4
3.1.1 Hypotheses……………………………………………………4
3.1.2 Objectives……………………………………………….4

4.0 Literature Review……………………………………………4

5.0 Methodology.................................................................................6

5.01 Study area………………………………………………6

Experimental design…………………………………….6

5.04 Data analysis………………………………………….7

References……………………………………………………………………9

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.0.1 History of rice

Rice Rice (Orza sativa) has supported a greater number of people for a longer
period of time than any other crop. It has always been domesticated and cultivated
since around 8,000 – 10,000 years ago. Rice is very capable of enough grain
beyond the immediate needs of a family. This resulted in setting up of kingdoms
and empires in China, Indo-China and India. Subsequently rice spread to Japan,
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South East Asian countries, Madagascar and the Middle East. In Middle East
(Egypt, Iraq(Mesopotamia) Euphrates and Tigris river systems) were early empires
and centers of civilization which developed on the rice culture using unsustainable
agricultural systems which caused salt accumulation and rice production failed.
Asian countries developed paddies. Wetlands rice farming system has maintained
stable and productive farming system sustaining high human population for
decades. Today rice still feeds more people than any other crop and the price of
rice still controls the fate of governments.

1.0.2 Botany of rice

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) belongs to the kingdom Plantae, Division Liliopsida in the
order of Poales, family Gramineae o Poaceae, tribe Oryzeae, genus Oryza and
species Sativa. It is an annual grass with round, hollow, jointed culms, rather flat,
sessile leaf blades, and a terminal panicle. Under favourable conditions the plant
may grow more than a year. Rice just like other plants in the tribe Oryzeae is
adapted to aquatic habitats. Oryza sativa L. is a diploid species with 24
chromosomes with a genomic formula of AA.

The crop has several varieties being grown in Malawi in two production systems:
the traditional in which the crop is grown on river banks and wetlands and road
side and rice schemes where use of paddies is followed to carter for growth of both
rain fed and dry season irrigated crop. Traditional rice varieties are Faya,
Kilombero, Amanda and other Mangochi Arab introductions. These varieties are
for the rain fed season only because of photoperiod insensitivity during the dry
season when they fail to flower. Local bred rice varieties are Changu, Senga,
Lifuwu. The country also houses Chinese varieties like Basimati.

2.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION

Rice (oryza sativa l.) is widely consumed in Malawi with some population
depending solely on it for food all year round. In Malawi rice has an average yield
1691kilogramsperhectare.Efforts to increase production are hindered by high input
costs giving low yields. Despite this yield can be increased if the same rice
varieties the nation uses are grown under the systems of rice intensification which

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has the ability to increase yields two or three fold with the same resources or less.
This can be so beneficial since use of the same piece of land rice
field without yield loss and without high input of human labour, fossil energy,
fertilizer, and herbicide but attaining higher yield is be benchmark. uphof

There is therefore a need to conduct this experiment as to determine the effect of

systems of rice intensification on the yield of the varieties that Malawians use. This
will bring to light the goodness of SRI by helping farmers improve yield.
Knowledge of this will mean an encouragement and a reason for the adoption and
use of the SRI by the nation.

3.0 OBJECTIVES

3.0.1 MAIN OBJECTIVE

To find out the effect of system of rice intensification on the yields of rice.

3.0.2. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

To find out if variety of rice has an effect on yield despite the growing
method used(thus whether SRI or Conventional)

To find out which method uses much costly resources( Labour, water,
energy, time, capital)

To find out which combination of growing method and variety gives the
highest yields.

4.0 HYPOTHESES

All rice growing methods give the same high yields.

All rice growing methods use similar resources quantitatively

5.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

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The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a system of production of rice. SRI is
considered to be a disembodied technological breakthrough in paddy cultivation.
It involves the application of certain management practices, which together provide
better growing condition for rice plants, particularly in the root zone, than those for
plants grown under conventional practices. This system seems to be promising to
overcome the shortage of water in irrigated rice. Developed in Madagascar
during 1980s by Father Henride Laulanie, SRI at present being in practice in
countries viz., Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippine, Thailand,
Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Gambia, Madagascar,
Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, Barbados, Brazil, Cuba, Guyana, Peru
and United States America. Synergistic interaction leads to much higher yields in
SRI than conventional methods. It offers increased land, labour and water
productivity. In fact, SRI is a less water consuming method of rice cultivation
when compared to rice cultivation using the conventional methods Thus, SRI can
be a most suitable method of rice cultivation to poor farmers who have relatively
more labour than land and capital.

SRI as understood internationally to mean “Growing rice in a new way.” It

involves changing certain management practices for rice plants soil, water and
nutrients, so as to produce better growing conditions, particularly in the root zone,
for rice plants than those of plants that are grown under traditional practices
(Uphoff, 2001).

SRI has been successfully tested in many rice-growing countries such as China,
India, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. A recent article,
“Nepal farmers reap bumper harvest” on BBC News (Sept. 2, 2005)
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4200688.stm) was a testimony of SRI
success next door to our country, Bhutan. Besides increasing rice crop
productivity, other benefits of SRI experienced by farmers include earlier crop
maturity, higher grain and straw yields, and reduced cost of production from
requiring less input of seeds, water, manure, fertilizers and pesticides (Uphoff,
2005). With this knowledge a research was initiated in which an initial evaluation
of SRI methods was undertaken in Bhutan from a base at Sherubtse College of the
Royal University of Bhutan during 2006 with the following objective among others

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in mind; to evaluate and assess the different rice varieties (cultivars) grown in the
country for their respective responsiveness to SRI practices as compared to
conventional methods. As such each site was planted with a different variety of
rice: Paropa and Verna (two local varieties) at Sites II and III, respectively, while
an improved variety was used at Site I. Selection of variety for this study was
based testing a popular cultivar grown at each. All the SRI plots had healthy and
non-lodging rice plants as compared to control plots. Also the total numbers of
productive tillers (panicles), length of panicle, and number of filled grains per
panicle were found more in SRI plots than with conventional methods (Figure 1).
The result confirms that maintaining wider spacing one plant per hill and
transplanting younger seedling induces more robust root growth, profuse tillering,
longer panicles and consequently more grains per panicle than closer spacing and
transplanting older seedlings. The SRI methods used in these trials were not the
complete set, so there is likely to be further productivity gains that can be made
from this methodology.

In all the three sites, SRI plots on average showed better yield performances as
compared to conventional method. This finding is in line with the evaluation
conducted by Anthofer (2004) that SRI method had better yield performance than
conventional methods in Cambodia. Among these sites, better yield performance
was observed at Site I as compared to Site II and III for both SRI as well as control
plots. The highest yield recorded was 6.0 t/ha at site I and 4.2 t/ha at the other two
sites. The increase in yield achieved across the three sites for this use of SRI
methods was 16.2%. The average yield of this use of SRI practices in three
locations, 4.8 t/ha, was almost 2 t/ha more than the nation’s (India) average yield
of 2.88 t/ha.

The research revealed some other positive aspects of SRI thus; a significant
reduction in the use of seeds for nursery , large number of secondary tillers(more
which had the potential to mature provided a longer growth period was available),
use of herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers is not so important, so they
can be reduced, thereby cutting down the cost of production. Removing young
seedlings in big clump along with the soil from the nursery also saves time and
keeps roots undamaged as against uprooting single or bunches of mature seedlings
together from nursery as practiced in the traditional method. Transplantation using
wider space between seedlings and between rows allows the free movement of
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weeders around the plot without trampling the seedlings. Water management
technique helps to save excessive use of water for irrigation. Mortality rate for the
transplanted seedlings was very low as compared to the conventional method. This
could because of the aerobic soil conditions with SRI practice.

6.0 METHODOLOGY

6.0.1 STUDY AREA

The experiment will be carried in Lifuwu Research Station located in Salima in the
dry season of the year 2014. Lifuwu Research Station is situated 8 km away from
the turn-off on the Salima-Livingstonia Beach Hotel road(Senga bay road) at the
latitude of 13o40 South and longitude of 34035 East). It lies at the foot of Lifuwu
hill. It is part of the expansive and seasonally flooded Katete dambo. The station is
at an altitude of 500 m above sea level.

The Station receives a mean annual rainfall of 1228 mm. Mean maximum and
minimum temperatures are 290C and 190C, respectively. The site has also an easy
access to water for irrigation being close to the Lake Malawi. The soils of the
station are described as Vertisols of 45% clay, with average pH 8.3 and 1.6%
organic matter.

6.0.2. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Four varieties of rice; two unimproved (Faya and Kilombero) and two improved
varieties (Senga and Lifuwu) will be grown under each a system of growing rice
thus whether SRI or conventional will be planted on eight plots using a
Randomized Complete Block Design.

The plots will measure 2m by 2m. In the SRI plots seedlings will be spaced at
25cm by 25cm(0.25m by 0.25). In the conventional treatments spacing will be as
the convention rice is palnted thus 25cm but not so regulated.

Care will therefore be that according to the method of rice growing.

6.0.3. FIELD PLAN

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 BLOCK 1 BLOCK 2 BLOCK 3 BLOCK 4

REPLICATE 1 REPLICATE 2 REPLICATE 4

1 8 1 8
2 7 2 7
3 6 3 6
4 5 4 5
5 4 5 4
6 3 6 3
7 2 7 2
8 1 8 1

1 = Faya + SRI,

2 = Faya + Conventional,

3 = Senga + SRI,

4 = Senga + Conventional,

5= Kilombero + SRI,

6 = Kilombero + Conventional,

7 = Lifuwu + SRI,

8 = Lifuwu + Conventional

6.0.4 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

• PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION

Primary data to be collected will be; Plant height at harvest, Grain yield,
morphological features e.g (numbers of tillers), Seed weight(of 100 seeds for each

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variety on each method of growing), Irrigation schedule data, minimum and
maximum temperature, wind speed, and labour used (estimated quantitatively).

• SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION

Secondary data will be collected from Books, Journals, Internet and other sources.

6.0.5 DATA ANALYSIS

The collected data will be subjected to Genstat 16th editon, One-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) using the following linear model of variance;

Үij ═ µ + tij + βі + Єij

Where Үij═ і th observation in the first collection

µ═ Overall mean.

tij═ Effect of the і th collection.

βj═ Block effect.

Єij═ Error associated with j th unit to the іth collection.

REFERENCES

Sistani KR, Reddy KC, Kanyika WA and Savant NK. 1998. Integration of rice
crop residue into sustainable rice production system. Journal of Plant Nutrition21:

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Radha, Y., Reddy, K. Y., Rao, G. S., Chandraand, S. R., Babu, G.K. 2009. Water-
saving Rice Production Technologies in Krishna Western Delta Command of
Andhra Pradesh – An Economic Analysis. Agricultural Economics Research
Review. 22,

Uphoff, N. 2001. SRI--the System of Rice Intensification: Less Can Be More.

Echo Development Notes, No. 70, January.
(http://www.echotech.org/network/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=46
1)

Karma, L. 2006. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Bhutan: A feasibility

study of a new rice farming system with special reference to location specific trials
and yield performance of different varieties. Sherubtse College, Royal University
of Bhutan.
(IAAE conference paper on SRI-uploading)

( http://www.sdnp.org.mw/darts/research/lifuwu/a_lifu.htm)

Msiska H.D.C 2013, Ppt presentation, Rice farming systems, Lilongwe University
of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Bunda Campus.

Guide to Agricultural Production and Natural Resources Management in Malawi,

2013, Agricultural Communication Branch, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.
Malawi, Lilongwe.

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