WG1: Work Plan 2006
Drought-prone lowlands
*Detailed version can be downloaded here.


2006 Work Plan Summary*

Raipur , India, and Ubon, Thailand



Key Site: Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya (IGAU), Raipur

IRRI team: SM Haefele (WG Leader), T Paris, G Atlin, DE Johnson, G Jahn
IGAU team : ASRAS Sastri (Key Site Coordinator), ML Sharma, MA Kahn, RK Sahu, AL Rathore, VN Mishra, SK Taunk, M. Akram, AP Singh, A Kumar, S Verulkar, P. Parihar
  • Prepare for a draft manuscript of a baseline inventory of bio-physical, socio-economic and agronomic environments of the key site’s villages.
  • Conduct on-farm experiments to evaluate the interaction of various cropping practices in a dry year in order to develop management options for best productivity. Interactions will be evaluated between crop establishment, weed and nutrient management practices at the three CURE villages.
  • Prepare a manuscript for publication on an analysis of the previous two seasons’ experiments on nutrient management options for increased nutrient use efficiency.
  • Conduct participatory varietal selection (PVS) that will include “mother” trials to evaluate 20 entries ranging from Poornima to Mahamaya, and “baby” trials allowing three to five farmers to test the top two or three most promising varieties from the 2005 PVS, using MTU 1010 and Mahamaya as control checks.
  • Expand upon 2005 herbicide trials to investigate the effects of different products and rates on widely used varieties under dry conditions. The particular focus will be on how varieties recover from herbicide phytotoxicity under moderate drought and the recovery pattern under mild drought. Products will be Whipsuper and Almix in combination or alone, using hand weeding as the control check.
  • Scale up promising technologies by organizing and training groups of interested farmers with contiguous fields on line sowing and safe herbicide application. Seed will be supplied under a seed-banking arrangement, while costs of other inputs will be shared between the project and participating farmers.
  • Continue to compile data and farmers’ feedback to identify constraints and opportunities for effective adoption of improved agricultural practices, and develop extension materials for promising technologies.
  • Identify important environmental parameters of potential regions/environments in order to determine target sites that are most suitable for upscaling CURE technologies by linking with the IFAD project. GIS tools will be used to establish these parameters .
  • Produce extension/training materials and management tools in collaboration with the IFAD project in order to disseminate validated practices to farmers and extension workers at the village level. Materials will cover safe and efficient herbicide use, decision trees for crop and natural resource management options, including expected performance, potential trouble spots, and suitable agro-ecological and socio-economic target domains.

    • Key Site: Ubon Ratchathani Rice Research Center

    IRRI team: SM Haefele (WG Leader), T Paris, G Atlin, DE Johnson, G Jahn
    URRC team: V Chamarerk (Key Site Coordinator) P Romyen, Y Konboon, K Naklang, B Jongdee, D Harnpichitvitaya, M Sommai

     
  • Evaluate new aerobic rice germplasm on-station and in CURE villages, in addition to different fertilizer options in aerobic rice cultivation using wide (40 cm) spacings to allow mechanical inter-row cultivation (new).
  • Best bet weed management options for direct-seeded rainfed lowland rice will be evaluated using treatments involving either farmers’ weed management or post-emergent herbicides combined with fertilizer applications based either on farmers’ practices or recommended rates. One treatment will employ sesame intercropped in rice (modified).
  • Assess rice yield losses to specific weed species in five lower terraces and five upper terraces (10 farmers in all) at Surin village (continuing).
  • Test an indigenous practice of rice cutting and its effects on weeds, rice growth and yield (new).
  • Repeat split applications of nitrogen experiments and analyze the results to prepare a manuscript for publication (continuing).
  • Conduct on-station field and pot experiments to assess the effects of carbonized organic matter on rice plant nutrition, rice yield and soil characteristics. Some samples of pot experiments to be analyzed at IRRI (modified).
  • Use numerous field data to develop and verify a decision-making scheme on nutrient management in rice in northeastern Thailand (new).
  • Conduct focused-group discussions with farmers in CURE villages on their decision making in nutrient and weed management in order to develop a support tool that can be upscaled to targeted sites (new).
  • Meet with extension personnel to present weed, nutrient and insect management results for upscaling this information to targeted sites (new).
  • Nominate a member of field staff to attend Application of participatory approaches to agricultural research and extension workshop to be conducted 2006 Aug. 7-18 at IRRI, and conduct in-country statistical training of field staff (new).
  • Finalize the characterization of the major agro-ecological zones of northeast Thailand, as well as a manuscript on baseline information received by the NARES collaborators (continuing).
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