FullPage™ System – Simplifying Rice Farming from Savannah seeds

Direct-seeded rice (DSR) has the potential to provide several benefits to farmers and the environment over conventional practices of puddling and transplanting. Various benefits like – Saving in labour, timely sowing in stipulated time frame because of easier and faster planting, early crop maturity by 7-10 days which allows timely planting of subsequent crops, more efficient water use and higher water stress tolerance, more profitability especially under assured irrigation facilities, better soil physical conditions, less methane emission, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and overcoming adverse effects of puddling have been well documented.
Despite of above mentioned, well established benefits of DSR practice, farmers have not been able to adopt this technology due to inefficient weed control and initial stage crop management. Weed control is the major constraint towards the success of DSR. Estimated losses from weeds in rice are around 10-30% of total production grain yield; however, such losses can be much higher. More than 50 weed species cause yield losses in rice. High weed infestation is the major bottleneck in DSR especially in dry field conditions.
Interestingly in USA and South American countries like Brazil, Argentina entire rice cultivation is being done through DSR. The rice growing methods have evolved over time in these countries and now the current yield levels are significantly high in average productivity than many key rice growing countries including India.
Considering the benefits and challenges of DSR practice, Savannah initiated its in-house trials. One of the key differentiations between Indian DSR and DSR in Americas was the weed control method. India has limited chemical weed control options for DSR. Whereas in Americas, effective weed control in rice is achieved through use of Herbicide Tolerant rice varieties and hybrids. These herbicide tolerant rice hybrids and varieties are developed using traditional breeding techniques and are Non-GMO.
The FullPage™ Rice Cropping Solution represents a new generation of improved herbicide tolerance for rice; improving yields, herbicide tolerance and early-season disease and insect protection. FullPage™ hybrids show a marked improvement in tolerance to IMI herbicides. This improved tolerance reduces the risk of crop response during stressful growing conditions and in overlap situations and increases overall yield.
Savannah in-house and institutional trials in India over 2 years have proved the effectiveness of this technology in Indian conditions. This technology offers a broad spectrum weed control including all key grasses, broadleaved weeds and sedges appearing in rice fields. The herbicide also offers a broader window of application to offer convenience and comfort to the farmers.
We are confident that FullPage™ technology shall be helpful to Indian farmers in simplifying the rice farming with all its benefits and overcoming the challenges in adoption DSR in Rice with the help of the technology. This technology will help in increasing farmer income by producing “more with less”.

• Field preparation; puddling and flooding cost saving
• Transplanting labour cost saving
• Irrigation water and cost saving of up to 25-30%
• Time saving, 7-10 days early maturity of crop

Arana@savannahseeds.com