Rice

Mid-May to mid-June across most of India, so that 25–30-day-old seedlings are ready to transplant with the monsoon onset from late June into July. Direct-seeded rice follows a similar window but skips the nursery stage entirely.

Transplanting into puddled soil is still dominant and gives standing water’s weed suppression for free. DSR saves water, labour and 7–10 days of crop duration, but needs a tighter weed-control programme since there is no standing water doing that work automatically — it pays off best where water or labour, not weeds, is the binding constraint.

About 8–10 kg per acre (20–25 kg/ha) for a nursery raised to transplant one acre of main field, and roughly the same for drill-sown direct-seeded rice.

Considerably more than wheat — roughly 1,000–1,500 mm over the season against wheat’s 450–650 mm — because transplanted rice is grown under standing water for most of its life. Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) or the SRI method can cut that 15–30% without a measurable yield loss.

A common recommendation for irrigated transplanted rice is 100:50:50 kg/ha of N:P:K — full phosphorus and potash plus about half the nitrogen worked in at last puddling, with the rest split between active tillering and panicle initiation. Your own soil test, free under the Soil Health Card scheme, can adjust this for your field.

Two common causes that look alike: nitrogen deficiency (uniform yellowing, fixed by a top dressing) and khaira disease — zinc deficiency common on soils kept continuously flooded for years, which often does not respond to more nitrogen at all. A soil test tells the two apart faster than guessing.

₹2,441 per quintal for the common variety, KMS 2026–27, as notified by the Government of India. MSP is revised every kharif marketing season, so check the current notification before selling.

Look for spindle-shaped leaf lesions with a grey centre and brown margin in humid, cloudy weather. Catching it before it reaches the neck (where it can snap the whole panicle) is what keeps one fungicide spray from becoming a lost panicle.

50–65 quintals per hectare for an irrigated, transplanted crop under normal management; over 65 q/ha is achievable with a high-yielding variety and no major disease or hopper pressure. A rainfed crop yields meaningfully less.

When 80–85% of grains on the panicle turn golden-yellow and moisture drops to 20–25% — usually 120–150 days after sowing depending on variety. Grain that resists a thumbnail dent is ready.

Dry it to below 14% moisture before bagging, and use a hermetic (sealed) storage bag if holding it for more than 2–3 months — it controls storage pests without any chemical fumigant. Paddy keeps noticeably better than milled rice, since the husk protects the grain.

PM-KISAN is not crop-specific — any landholding farmer family meeting the scheme’s land-record and eligibility criteria qualifies, rice or otherwise. See the Related schemes section below.

Yes, under PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana). Rice is a kharif food crop, so the farmer’s premium is capped at 2% of the sum insured. Enrolment is seasonal — check your state’s cut-off date before transplanting is complete.

Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) lets the field dry until standing water drops about 15 cm below the surface before re-flooding, cutting water use 15–30% with no measurable yield loss outside panicle initiation and flowering. SRI (System of Rice Intensification) uses young single seedlings at wide spacing with intermittent rather than continuous flooding — it cuts water and seed use further but demands more precise field management.

Yes — roughly 1,000–1,500 mm over the season, well above wheat’s 450–650 mm, because transplanted rice grows under standing water for most of the crop cycle. This is exactly why AWD, SRI and direct-seeded rice are spreading fastest in the states where groundwater is falling.

Baling and selling it as fodder, using a Happy Seeder to sow the next wheat crop directly into the standing stubble, or sending it to a biomass plant are all more profitable than burning it — and avoid the air-quality and soil-health cost of stubble burning, which is also legally restricted in several states.

Among the varieties on this page, Swarna (MTU 7029) and IR 64 top out highest under good management — 50–65 q/ha and 55–60 q/ha respectively — while a basmati like Pusa Basmati 1509 trades yield for the export premium it earns. The right choice depends on your water, duration and market goal as much as raw yield potential.

Roughly one 8–10 kg bag per acre (20–25 kg/ha) for a nursery raised to transplant one acre of main field, and about the same for drill-sown direct-seeded rice.

Chalky, opaque grain and a high breakage rate at milling usually trace back to high temperature during grain-filling, or moisture stress right at flowering — both interrupt starch deposition inside the grain. Harvesting promptly once grain moisture hits 20–25%, rather than letting the crop stand and dry further in the field, also reduces breakage at milling.

Yes — direct-seeded rice (DSR) grown without continuous flooding, sometimes called aerobic rice, is spreading in Punjab and Haryana specifically to cut groundwater use. It trades away the free weed suppression standing water gives transplanted rice, so it only works with a properly planned herbicide programme alongside it.

Moisture stress or extreme temperature right at flowering (~90–100 days after sowing) is the most common cause — it causes spikelet sterility that no amount of irrigation afterward can reverse. Brown planthopper feeding at the base of the plant can also cause a similar-looking empty panicle, so check the plant base before assuming it is a water issue.

Tricyclazole, sprayed at the first sign of leaf lesions and again at boot-leaf or neck stage in a high-pressure season. Starting with a blast-resistant variety for your zone and avoiding excess nitrogen both reduce how often you need to reach for it.

Largely yes — the land preparation, transplanting and irrigation schedule on this page apply to basmati too. The differences are mainly at the input end: basmati varieties like Pusa Basmati 1509 use less water and mature faster than older basmati lines, and are managed for grain quality and aroma at the price of a somewhat lower yield ceiling than a high-yielding variety like Swarna.