Rice Continued from Page 6
with the drill-seeded system, applying urea on the soil surface right before permanent flood. With water seeding, rice farmers shortly before planting inject aqua ammo- nia about 3-4 inches below the soil surface, then flood fields to seal it in. The herbicide program consisted of Prowl, Clincher and propanil. Although Linquist was fairly happy with overall weed control, he said he’d still like to improve it. Of the treatments, the fall stale seed bed yielded the highest with 86-87 hundred- weight per acre dry. Yields from the other drill-seeded treatments ranged from 75-80 cwt. per acre. That compares to yields of 86-87 cwt. per acre for other water-seeded plots at the Rice Experiment Station. “We’re pretty excited,” Linquist said. “Certainly, in the fallow treatments, it seems to have a very similar yield poten- tial. There’s maybe a little bit of a hit when you go into more of a true no-till.” He said next season he hopes to expand the trial at the Rice Experiment Station and conduct similar studies on-farm with a few cooperating rice producers. The California Rice Research Board funded the pilot program this year. Linquist has received California Department of Food and Agriculture Fertilizer Research and Education Program funding to con- tinue the project in 2024. (Vicky Boyd is a reporter in Modesto. She may be contacted at vlboyd@att.net.)
The Isbells have water seeded rice for decades to help manage weeds, and they still use it on part of their farm. On the oth- er portion, they began drill seeding more than 10 years ago when new herbicides and herbicide-resistant rice varieties came to market. Each planting system has benefits and drawbacks, some of which Isbell said may not be readily apparent. “Any time you change a system like that, you’re going to run into a problem you didn’t even expect,” he said. Linquist’s trial included four different drill-seeded treatments, none of which were tilled this season. He said he focused on no- till because the practice conserves moisture in the soil that plants can tap during ear- ly-season germination and growth. “Conventional tillage encourages evap- oration,” Linquist said, referring to pre- plant disking, floating and other ground preparation. “No-till conserves that water for growth.” The experimental treatments included a fallow stale seed bed where the field went unplanted in 2022. It was disked and lev- eled last year but was not flooded during the winter. The three other 2022 treatments had rice grown on them. After harvest, the straw was chopped, burned or half removed to simulate baling. All three were flooded
Young rice plants push though straw stubble in research trials for drill-seeded rice. The California Rice Research Board funded the pilot project. State funding will support continued research.
during the winter for waterfowl. No tillage was done to any of the plots this season. Using a Great Plains no-till drill, the crew planted 150 pounds per acre of the M-206 medium-grain variety May 2 in research plots. They designed planter slices through the organic matter covering the soil surface to place the seed at the correct depth.
Much like growers in the South, Linquist’s crew flushed the plots once after planting. They did not irrigate again until June 2, when they went to permanent flood with three- to four-leaf rice. The plots re- mained flooded until they were drained about two weeks before harvest. Linquist had to change fertility practices
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November 29, 2023 Ag Alert 7
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