Beusaning
In brief, beusaning refers to light ploughing through a standing crop of rice. This is an indigenous practice developed by the farmers and largely practised in Eastern- Indian states when a traditional variety has been direct seeded. In spite of many improved technologies now available to boost productivity of rice tremendously, farmers are reluctant to part with this old practice. Obviously, ploughing in a standing crop sounds unscientific and there is a general consensus among the scientists that beusaning is primarily aimed at killing weeds and if that could be achieved by alternate methods farmers may not go for it.
Probable history of beusaning :
During the early period of domestication of rice, weeds would have created the most serious threat to its productivity and even to its survival. Out of the various methods tried to manage them, beusaning would have come out as the easiest, cheapest and quickest method, at some period of time, when traditional agriculture had turned out to be plough-intensive. Thus, while stale seedbed method and blind ploughing would have been developed for the uplands, their counterpart for the medium and land low lands should have been the beusaning. This, of course, would have led to reduced plant stand which would have been rather a boon by exerting less pressure on soil fertility and by maintaining a stable yield over years. When farmers would have become interested in increasing the yield they would have gone for addition of FYM, increase of seed rate and more appropriately the post beusaning corrective measures. This is how the history of beusaning could be envisioned.
Beusaning and post beusaning operations:
Various steps involved in beusaning and the follow up actions practised in Orissa are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Steps in beusaning and post-beusaning operations.
Practice- Oriya vernacular name, Meaning of the vernacular term
Ist ploughing- Kadhana, Opening of soil
2nd ploughing- Do-ora, Second ploughing
Ist gap filling- Batia bhanga or batia khelua, Splitting/distribution of clumps
Laddering- Pani mai, Laddering with water in the field
2nd gap filling- Kalabua khelua, Distribution of rice plants at dark green stage
By third week of germination the crop becomes ready for beusaning. Ploughing is done lightly with a narrow local plough (wedge shaped) of non-inverting type. It is worked in a lubricating to liquid state of the soil to save more of rice plants from incorporation for which a shallow submergence with 5-7 cm.of standing water is maintained during the operation.
Classification of beusaning:
It is noticed that all the five practices described earlier are not pursued in all the areas. More over, there are variations not only with the type of operations but with their number and timing as well. The variations are encountered across districts, blocks and even villages. Thus, beusaning can be classified into three broad categories like High Intensity Beusaning (HIB), Medium Intensity Beusaning (MIB) and Low Intensity Beusaning (LIB). Here intensity refers not only to ploughing but also to other componential practices. It is observed that intensity of beusaning is linked with rainfall pattern and/ or assured availability of water and extent of yield assurance in a particular area.
Comparison among beusaning types:
HIB: - It comprises of all the steps enumerated in the table 1. As usual beusaning is initiated after three weeks of germination. Second ploughing is done crosswise on the third day of first ploughing. The thing most peculiar here is that after this ploughing almost all the plants happen to be uprooted in the form of lumps having 8 to 10 plants each. First gap filling is done on the same day for which lumps are lifted up and held, by the support of belly, in one hand and with the other hand lump-lets having 2 to 3 seedlings are separated and thrown down to fill up the gaps. Simultaneously the already thrown lump-lets are oriented and weeds pushed into mud by leg. This is accomplished by two mighty male labourers struggling breathlessly behind each plough.
The second gap filling is done 10 to 12 days after the first gap filling. Before this operation the field is planked and weeded cleanly. In case of longer duration varieties, a third gap filling is often practised after 15 days of the second one. Second and third gap fillings are done by a special hand hoe meant to pick up a clump or portion of it essentially with soil.
MIB:- In MIB after first ploughing the field is left as such for 8 to 10 days after which laddering, weeding and gap filling are done sequentially in one day. In case of thick stand a second ploughing followed by gap filling is done, skipping laddering and weeding, on the same day. The gap filling is accomplished by hand or hand-hoe. In MIB more than 50 % of plants are completely uprooted while in case of the rest of the plants almost all the side roots are pruned.
LIB: - In this case the field is ploughed only once followed by one or no laddering. Keeping the possibility of drought in view, unlike the previous two, efforts are made to uproot / displace only around 30 to 50 per cent of plants and rest remains intact with slight disturbance. In case of immediate laddering, almost all the uprooted plants may die and hence laddering practiced only in light soils with thick stand. Gapfilling is not practised as the plants disturbed by such operation may die due to moisture stress and as such maturity may be delayed. In LIB higher seed rate of 150 kg/ha is used to check weed growth and compensate for killing of plants due to beusaning and other hostile conditions (1).
Basic advantage of beusaning and its scientific background:
Farmers are aware of the basic advantages of beusaning and opine that unless weeds are controlled, plant stand reduced and soil loosened properly, the crop would perish out of suffocation. That’s why the farmers of HIB and MIB areas emphasize on the age old adage that “beusaning should be done by one’s enemies”. Likewise the saying in LIB area is “the plant that bends is the one which yields”. Farmers of HIB area firmly maintain that unless beusaning is done all the water would be lost through percolation and let alone a drought year, there would be an utter failure of crops even in normal years. In many areas an unbeusaned crop which is normally unweeded too is either grazed by cattle or cut for that purpose by anybody of that locality. There is no need to inform the owner as such a field is thought to have been abandoned.
It is found that due to beusaning up to 70 percent of weeds are controlled; the plants produce more number of effective tillers and the panicles become much longer. On the contrary, when a crop is unbeusaned but weeded, there is little or no tillering and panicles are much smaller giving only 25 to 50 percent of normal yield. This occurs due to too high plant population coupled with poor fertility status and/or poor uptake. In fact, uptake of nutrients seems to be much higher due to beusaning which causes incorporation of some plants like rice, weed or green manure crops leading to better microbial activity. Uptake of nutrients is also accelerated due to formation of new roots following root pruning. However, the expected specific advantages of the individual operations are as follows:
First ploughing:-In it the plough is run wide apart with a view to opening the soil. It helps in reduction of percolation and better microbial activity by which the soil is softened and comes to a workable condition very easily.
Second ploughing: - Here ploughing is done at comparatively closer intervals in supplement to the first one with a view to uprooting the desired proportion of plants in relatively smaller size lumps.
Both the ploughings are of course intended to thin out the seedlings to a desired extent. Therefore, occurrence of thin population, presence of relatively younger seedlings and shortage of standing water compel the farmers to finish both the ploughings unusually on the same day. Same is also pursued when the soil is sandy threatening its early settling.
Laddering: - To ensure smoothening of the field surface, making rice plants unidirectional for better workability, and flattening of aged weeds, laddering is practised before second gap filling in HIB and first gap filling in MIB. Sometimes laddering is also done prior to start of beusaning to flatten outgrown weeds or green manure crops. Green manuring of sesbania is often practised in MIB area along with direct sown rice. In heavy soils of LIB area, laddering just after ploughing is avoided as it incorporates all the uprooted and some of the unuprooted rice plants; but when weeds are more, it becomes inevitable even at the cost of rice plants.
Apart from all these advantages, laddering is expected to homogenize the shock of beusaning to all the plants including those not uprooted. Normally a beusaned crop takes around 7 days more to mature. Unless all the plants are equally shocked, there may be unsynchronous flowering. This seems to be important when the variety is not fully photosensitive. Laddering is also found to kill pests like insects, crabs and snails.
It is found that with assured water availability it is not beusaning or transplanting but management as a whole that decides the yield. It is also learnt from experiments that if proper care is taken beusaning is not indispensable. Therefore, when beusaning is to be avoided in direct sown crops, the seed rate be reduced, the crop is to be properly weeded and FYM along with fertilizer are to be applied as required. As an unbeusaned crop seems to be more prone to lodging, because it grows taller and is not hardened, a lodging resistant variety should be preferred. Here, all P and K should be applied with three splits of N at 15 days (1/4N), 30 days (1/2N) and at P.I. (1/4N). When sown in lines, the first split of N is to be applied as basal with P and K. When beusaning is to be taken up it may be practised within 30-40 days with application of P, K and ½ N at beusaning, 1/4N after 15 days and rest N at panicle initiation stage.
As the different types of beusaning developed through ages, have stood the test of time, those may be practised in the respective areas only. But to treat the systems more scientifically the HIB system should be taken up with high yielding varieties and moderate dose of fertilizer, the MIB system with high yielding varieties, moderate dose of fertilizer and care to maintain optimum plant stand, and the LIB with high yielding varieties, lower doses of fertilizer and more attention for weed management. However, the varietal recommendation should be based on proper testing in the respective regions though it appears that photoperiod- sensitive semi- tall varieties able to withstand rigors of beusaning may come out as most dependable ones. It is reported that high yielding varieties like Shakti and Jajati produce 4.5 to 5.0 tones of grains per hectare under beusaning.
IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS
Early vs. late beusaning:- Age of seedlings at beusaning varying up to 40 days seems to have no effect on yield of rice crop. If it is beyond 40 days, the yield reduction is remarkable. However, in practice, in rainfed areas the farmers try to beusan the crop as soon as there is accumulation of water whereas in irrigated areas older seedlings (40 days) are preferred to reduce mortality. For this they never go for high seed rate as in rainfed areas.
· Under late beusaning when plants have grown taller the upper portion is either cut or grazed before beusaning so that during the operations the plants could straighten easily.
· Beusaning vs. transplanting: - Under rainfed situation, transplanting may not be always possible due to unavailability of water at the right time. As such, transplanting operation requires more water (around 25 cm.) while beusaning could be managed with 10-15 cm. of water. As the plants are uprooted and washed in case of transplanting their chances of survival is less under rainfed condition while in beusaning the plants are almost established in situ. Thus, a beusaned crop is more assured than a transplanted one. Again with fertilization a beusaned crop yields equally well like a transplanted one as beusaning seems to simulate the condition of transplanting in a field. Above all beusaning offers wider flexibility of its initiation any time after seedling stage up to maximum tiller number stage while transplanting is needed to be done at 4 to 5 leaf stage. Thus, for better assurance and less investment farmers prefer beusaning in rainfed areas.
· Pre- requisites of beusaning: - Traditionally beusaning goes hand in hand with two practices for its perpetuation. Firstly, the field is to be summer-ploughed so that the crop could be sown at the right time on a dry or semi- dry condition. Secondly, a white- based variety is altered with a black based one in different years for easier identification and weeding of volunteer and wild rice plants. To prevent farmers from growing same variety over years in the same field there is an adage that if a particular variety is grown consecutively for three years on the same field it turns out to be wild having awn and shattering characteristic, though in fact, the proportion of weedy rice (O.sativa f spontanea) becomes intolerably higher due to ineffective roguing.
· Stale seed bed: - For direct sowing of paddy in uplands during kharif, the seed bed is prepared well ahead of optimum time of sowing and is left as such for few days so that weeds germinate with onset of rain (pre-monsoon rains). These weeds are destroyed by another ploughing. This practice is pursued till 4-5 broods of weeds are killed followed by sowing. This method is known as stale seedbed method of sowing.
· Blind ploughing: - In this case paddy is sown into a well pulverised slightly moist soil. Three days after sowing, the land is ploughed with a narrow desi plough (non-inverting type). This helps in exposure of weeds which have just germinated and causes their death. By this time paddy is yet to germinate and so is not affected. As ploughing is done without feeling that a crop has already been sown, this method is named such. In Oriya this process is known as ‘mendha’.
· As per Richaria (4) during ploughing 10-12 % of tillers are separated from the clumps. Filling the gap by separated tillers instead of whole plant is known as ‘modified beusaning’ or ‘phalai’. By this method yield could be equal to a transplanted crop.
· Interesting observations obtained from a survey of three different districts of Orissa where the three different types of beusaning are practised are given in table 2.
Beusaning and post beusaning operations:
Various steps involved in three different types of beusaning and follow up actions practised in Orissa are as follows:
Table- 2. Comparison among beusaning types.
Sl. No. Particulars- HIB, MIB, LIB
1. Name of the district- Dhenkanal, Cuttack , Kalahandi
2. Land type- Terraced, Plain, Terraced
3. Annual rainfall- 1421 mm, 1501 mm, 1378 mm
4. Occurrence of rainfall- Assured in most years, Assured in almost all the years, Assured in few yers
5. Expectation of drought- Once in 4-5 years, Rare, Almost each year
6. Sowing time in medium land- June 2nd to 3rd week, June 2nd week, June last week to July 2nd week
7. Maximum crop duration in majority of medium lands- 145-150 days, 150-160 days, 140-145 days
8. Normal time of maturity- November 30, December 15, November 30
9. Start of beusaning- July 15, July 1-15, July 30
10. Final plant population per sq. m.- 40-50, 10-50, 60-200
11. Yield (average and maximum, t/ha) - 2.5, 4.5; 2.5, 4.5; 2.0, 2.5
REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
1. Barik.T. (1991) A high seed rate for rice is useful in Orissa. Indan Farming. 41 (2): 23, 25.
2. Barik, T. and Rout, D. (1992) Beusaning with its multifold actions has sustained rice productivity through centuries. Presented at National Symposium on Resource Management for Sustained Crop Production, held at Bikaner, India from 25-28 Feb. 11pp.
3. Fujisaka, S., Ingram, K.T. and Moody, K. (1991) Crop Establishment (Beusani) in Cuttack District, India. IRRI Res. Paper Ser. 148. IRRI, Philippines. 9 pp.
4. Richharia, R.H. (1987) Rice in Abundance for All times Through Rice Clones. Pub. by Richharia, R.M.B-1 Punjab Bagh, Govindpura, Bhopal. 132 pp.
SOURCE: Barik T. 2004. Fundamentals of Field Crops (Part – I). Saraswat Publishers, Sambalpur,Orissa, India. 224 pp.
In brief, beusaning refers to light ploughing through a standing crop of rice. This is an indigenous practice developed by the farmers and largely practised in Eastern- Indian states when a traditional variety has been direct seeded. In spite of many improved technologies now available to boost productivity of rice tremendously, farmers are reluctant to part with this old practice. Obviously, ploughing in a standing crop sounds unscientific and there is a general consensus among the scientists that beusaning is primarily aimed at killing weeds and if that could be achieved by alternate methods farmers may not go for it.
Probable history of beusaning :
During the early period of domestication of rice, weeds would have created the most serious threat to its productivity and even to its survival. Out of the various methods tried to manage them, beusaning would have come out as the easiest, cheapest and quickest method, at some period of time, when traditional agriculture had turned out to be plough-intensive. Thus, while stale seedbed method and blind ploughing would have been developed for the uplands, their counterpart for the medium and land low lands should have been the beusaning. This, of course, would have led to reduced plant stand which would have been rather a boon by exerting less pressure on soil fertility and by maintaining a stable yield over years. When farmers would have become interested in increasing the yield they would have gone for addition of FYM, increase of seed rate and more appropriately the post beusaning corrective measures. This is how the history of beusaning could be envisioned.
Beusaning and post beusaning operations:
Various steps involved in beusaning and the follow up actions practised in Orissa are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Steps in beusaning and post-beusaning operations.
Practice- Oriya vernacular name, Meaning of the vernacular term
Ist ploughing- Kadhana, Opening of soil
2nd ploughing- Do-ora, Second ploughing
Ist gap filling- Batia bhanga or batia khelua, Splitting/distribution of clumps
Laddering- Pani mai, Laddering with water in the field
2nd gap filling- Kalabua khelua, Distribution of rice plants at dark green stage
By third week of germination the crop becomes ready for beusaning. Ploughing is done lightly with a narrow local plough (wedge shaped) of non-inverting type. It is worked in a lubricating to liquid state of the soil to save more of rice plants from incorporation for which a shallow submergence with 5-7 cm.of standing water is maintained during the operation.
Classification of beusaning:
It is noticed that all the five practices described earlier are not pursued in all the areas. More over, there are variations not only with the type of operations but with their number and timing as well. The variations are encountered across districts, blocks and even villages. Thus, beusaning can be classified into three broad categories like High Intensity Beusaning (HIB), Medium Intensity Beusaning (MIB) and Low Intensity Beusaning (LIB). Here intensity refers not only to ploughing but also to other componential practices. It is observed that intensity of beusaning is linked with rainfall pattern and/ or assured availability of water and extent of yield assurance in a particular area.
Comparison among beusaning types:
HIB: - It comprises of all the steps enumerated in the table 1. As usual beusaning is initiated after three weeks of germination. Second ploughing is done crosswise on the third day of first ploughing. The thing most peculiar here is that after this ploughing almost all the plants happen to be uprooted in the form of lumps having 8 to 10 plants each. First gap filling is done on the same day for which lumps are lifted up and held, by the support of belly, in one hand and with the other hand lump-lets having 2 to 3 seedlings are separated and thrown down to fill up the gaps. Simultaneously the already thrown lump-lets are oriented and weeds pushed into mud by leg. This is accomplished by two mighty male labourers struggling breathlessly behind each plough.
The second gap filling is done 10 to 12 days after the first gap filling. Before this operation the field is planked and weeded cleanly. In case of longer duration varieties, a third gap filling is often practised after 15 days of the second one. Second and third gap fillings are done by a special hand hoe meant to pick up a clump or portion of it essentially with soil.
MIB:- In MIB after first ploughing the field is left as such for 8 to 10 days after which laddering, weeding and gap filling are done sequentially in one day. In case of thick stand a second ploughing followed by gap filling is done, skipping laddering and weeding, on the same day. The gap filling is accomplished by hand or hand-hoe. In MIB more than 50 % of plants are completely uprooted while in case of the rest of the plants almost all the side roots are pruned.
LIB: - In this case the field is ploughed only once followed by one or no laddering. Keeping the possibility of drought in view, unlike the previous two, efforts are made to uproot / displace only around 30 to 50 per cent of plants and rest remains intact with slight disturbance. In case of immediate laddering, almost all the uprooted plants may die and hence laddering practiced only in light soils with thick stand. Gapfilling is not practised as the plants disturbed by such operation may die due to moisture stress and as such maturity may be delayed. In LIB higher seed rate of 150 kg/ha is used to check weed growth and compensate for killing of plants due to beusaning and other hostile conditions (1).
Basic advantage of beusaning and its scientific background:
Farmers are aware of the basic advantages of beusaning and opine that unless weeds are controlled, plant stand reduced and soil loosened properly, the crop would perish out of suffocation. That’s why the farmers of HIB and MIB areas emphasize on the age old adage that “beusaning should be done by one’s enemies”. Likewise the saying in LIB area is “the plant that bends is the one which yields”. Farmers of HIB area firmly maintain that unless beusaning is done all the water would be lost through percolation and let alone a drought year, there would be an utter failure of crops even in normal years. In many areas an unbeusaned crop which is normally unweeded too is either grazed by cattle or cut for that purpose by anybody of that locality. There is no need to inform the owner as such a field is thought to have been abandoned.
It is found that due to beusaning up to 70 percent of weeds are controlled; the plants produce more number of effective tillers and the panicles become much longer. On the contrary, when a crop is unbeusaned but weeded, there is little or no tillering and panicles are much smaller giving only 25 to 50 percent of normal yield. This occurs due to too high plant population coupled with poor fertility status and/or poor uptake. In fact, uptake of nutrients seems to be much higher due to beusaning which causes incorporation of some plants like rice, weed or green manure crops leading to better microbial activity. Uptake of nutrients is also accelerated due to formation of new roots following root pruning. However, the expected specific advantages of the individual operations are as follows:
First ploughing:-In it the plough is run wide apart with a view to opening the soil. It helps in reduction of percolation and better microbial activity by which the soil is softened and comes to a workable condition very easily.
Second ploughing: - Here ploughing is done at comparatively closer intervals in supplement to the first one with a view to uprooting the desired proportion of plants in relatively smaller size lumps.
Both the ploughings are of course intended to thin out the seedlings to a desired extent. Therefore, occurrence of thin population, presence of relatively younger seedlings and shortage of standing water compel the farmers to finish both the ploughings unusually on the same day. Same is also pursued when the soil is sandy threatening its early settling.
Laddering: - To ensure smoothening of the field surface, making rice plants unidirectional for better workability, and flattening of aged weeds, laddering is practised before second gap filling in HIB and first gap filling in MIB. Sometimes laddering is also done prior to start of beusaning to flatten outgrown weeds or green manure crops. Green manuring of sesbania is often practised in MIB area along with direct sown rice. In heavy soils of LIB area, laddering just after ploughing is avoided as it incorporates all the uprooted and some of the unuprooted rice plants; but when weeds are more, it becomes inevitable even at the cost of rice plants.
Apart from all these advantages, laddering is expected to homogenize the shock of beusaning to all the plants including those not uprooted. Normally a beusaned crop takes around 7 days more to mature. Unless all the plants are equally shocked, there may be unsynchronous flowering. This seems to be important when the variety is not fully photosensitive. Laddering is also found to kill pests like insects, crabs and snails.
It is found that with assured water availability it is not beusaning or transplanting but management as a whole that decides the yield. It is also learnt from experiments that if proper care is taken beusaning is not indispensable. Therefore, when beusaning is to be avoided in direct sown crops, the seed rate be reduced, the crop is to be properly weeded and FYM along with fertilizer are to be applied as required. As an unbeusaned crop seems to be more prone to lodging, because it grows taller and is not hardened, a lodging resistant variety should be preferred. Here, all P and K should be applied with three splits of N at 15 days (1/4N), 30 days (1/2N) and at P.I. (1/4N). When sown in lines, the first split of N is to be applied as basal with P and K. When beusaning is to be taken up it may be practised within 30-40 days with application of P, K and ½ N at beusaning, 1/4N after 15 days and rest N at panicle initiation stage.
As the different types of beusaning developed through ages, have stood the test of time, those may be practised in the respective areas only. But to treat the systems more scientifically the HIB system should be taken up with high yielding varieties and moderate dose of fertilizer, the MIB system with high yielding varieties, moderate dose of fertilizer and care to maintain optimum plant stand, and the LIB with high yielding varieties, lower doses of fertilizer and more attention for weed management. However, the varietal recommendation should be based on proper testing in the respective regions though it appears that photoperiod- sensitive semi- tall varieties able to withstand rigors of beusaning may come out as most dependable ones. It is reported that high yielding varieties like Shakti and Jajati produce 4.5 to 5.0 tones of grains per hectare under beusaning.
IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS
Early vs. late beusaning:- Age of seedlings at beusaning varying up to 40 days seems to have no effect on yield of rice crop. If it is beyond 40 days, the yield reduction is remarkable. However, in practice, in rainfed areas the farmers try to beusan the crop as soon as there is accumulation of water whereas in irrigated areas older seedlings (40 days) are preferred to reduce mortality. For this they never go for high seed rate as in rainfed areas.
· Under late beusaning when plants have grown taller the upper portion is either cut or grazed before beusaning so that during the operations the plants could straighten easily.
· Beusaning vs. transplanting: - Under rainfed situation, transplanting may not be always possible due to unavailability of water at the right time. As such, transplanting operation requires more water (around 25 cm.) while beusaning could be managed with 10-15 cm. of water. As the plants are uprooted and washed in case of transplanting their chances of survival is less under rainfed condition while in beusaning the plants are almost established in situ. Thus, a beusaned crop is more assured than a transplanted one. Again with fertilization a beusaned crop yields equally well like a transplanted one as beusaning seems to simulate the condition of transplanting in a field. Above all beusaning offers wider flexibility of its initiation any time after seedling stage up to maximum tiller number stage while transplanting is needed to be done at 4 to 5 leaf stage. Thus, for better assurance and less investment farmers prefer beusaning in rainfed areas.
· Pre- requisites of beusaning: - Traditionally beusaning goes hand in hand with two practices for its perpetuation. Firstly, the field is to be summer-ploughed so that the crop could be sown at the right time on a dry or semi- dry condition. Secondly, a white- based variety is altered with a black based one in different years for easier identification and weeding of volunteer and wild rice plants. To prevent farmers from growing same variety over years in the same field there is an adage that if a particular variety is grown consecutively for three years on the same field it turns out to be wild having awn and shattering characteristic, though in fact, the proportion of weedy rice (O.sativa f spontanea) becomes intolerably higher due to ineffective roguing.
· Stale seed bed: - For direct sowing of paddy in uplands during kharif, the seed bed is prepared well ahead of optimum time of sowing and is left as such for few days so that weeds germinate with onset of rain (pre-monsoon rains). These weeds are destroyed by another ploughing. This practice is pursued till 4-5 broods of weeds are killed followed by sowing. This method is known as stale seedbed method of sowing.
· Blind ploughing: - In this case paddy is sown into a well pulverised slightly moist soil. Three days after sowing, the land is ploughed with a narrow desi plough (non-inverting type). This helps in exposure of weeds which have just germinated and causes their death. By this time paddy is yet to germinate and so is not affected. As ploughing is done without feeling that a crop has already been sown, this method is named such. In Oriya this process is known as ‘mendha’.
· As per Richaria (4) during ploughing 10-12 % of tillers are separated from the clumps. Filling the gap by separated tillers instead of whole plant is known as ‘modified beusaning’ or ‘phalai’. By this method yield could be equal to a transplanted crop.
· Interesting observations obtained from a survey of three different districts of Orissa where the three different types of beusaning are practised are given in table 2.
Beusaning and post beusaning operations:
Various steps involved in three different types of beusaning and follow up actions practised in Orissa are as follows:
Table- 2. Comparison among beusaning types.
Sl. No. Particulars- HIB, MIB, LIB
1. Name of the district- Dhenkanal, Cuttack , Kalahandi
2. Land type- Terraced, Plain, Terraced
3. Annual rainfall- 1421 mm, 1501 mm, 1378 mm
4. Occurrence of rainfall- Assured in most years, Assured in almost all the years, Assured in few yers
5. Expectation of drought- Once in 4-5 years, Rare, Almost each year
6. Sowing time in medium land- June 2nd to 3rd week, June 2nd week, June last week to July 2nd week
7. Maximum crop duration in majority of medium lands- 145-150 days, 150-160 days, 140-145 days
8. Normal time of maturity- November 30, December 15, November 30
9. Start of beusaning- July 15, July 1-15, July 30
10. Final plant population per sq. m.- 40-50, 10-50, 60-200
11. Yield (average and maximum, t/ha) - 2.5, 4.5; 2.5, 4.5; 2.0, 2.5
REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
1. Barik.T. (1991) A high seed rate for rice is useful in Orissa. Indan Farming. 41 (2): 23, 25.
2. Barik, T. and Rout, D. (1992) Beusaning with its multifold actions has sustained rice productivity through centuries. Presented at National Symposium on Resource Management for Sustained Crop Production, held at Bikaner, India from 25-28 Feb. 11pp.
3. Fujisaka, S., Ingram, K.T. and Moody, K. (1991) Crop Establishment (Beusani) in Cuttack District, India. IRRI Res. Paper Ser. 148. IRRI, Philippines. 9 pp.
4. Richharia, R.H. (1987) Rice in Abundance for All times Through Rice Clones. Pub. by Richharia, R.M.B-1 Punjab Bagh, Govindpura, Bhopal. 132 pp.
SOURCE: Barik T. 2004. Fundamentals of Field Crops (Part – I). Saraswat Publishers, Sambalpur,Orissa, India. 224 pp.
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