The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) (Material Science and Engineering)

• NORHANAS BINTI LAMIT (UMS)

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is now being practiced in over 60 countries worldwide where labor is cheap. Many benefits of SRI have been reported such as increase in rice yield up to 50%-100% or more; saves 25-50% irrigation water; saves seeds by 80-90%; tolerant to drought, wind and storm; reduce methane emission; and use less chemical fertilizers but more organic matter. However Malaysian paddy farmers are reluctant to adopt SRI due its high labor requirement during the manual transplanting of the fragile young seedlings of < 2 weeks old. Furthermore, the current transplanting technique disturbs the root system that cause transplanting shock of the seedlings, hence affecting growth. Many solutions have been studied for establishment of single seedlings with undisturbed roots. The most promising design is the bio-degradable conical capsules with 15 mm top diameter and 10 mm at the bottom. A total of 684 capsules can be fitted into the conventional rice nursery tray measuring 60 cm X 30 cm X 3 cm. The capsules are connected to each other by tiny connectors as to keep them upright for filling of the soil growing media and sowing the germinated seeds. Field tests showed that the SRI single seedling capsules are able to produce healthy plants, yielding up to 50 panicles, which is 2-3 times more yield than the current practice. However there is a need for mass production by manufacturing of the bio-degradable capsules (UMS-SRICAP684) that can fit into the conventional rice nursery trays.