Energy comparison of two rice cultivation systems

The current experiment, conducted in Ramhormoz, Iran, compared the energy consumption of two rice cultivation systems: direct seeded rice and transplanting cultivation systems. In the transplanting system, rice is grown by hand-transplanting thirty-day-old nursery seedlings into standing water in the main field. The direct cultivation system has no nursery or tillage operation. Instead, rice is cultivated in the main field using a cereal seeder. In this study, data was collected from 185 rice producers, 125 of whom used transplanting and 60 of whom used direct seeding as their rice growing system. The results indicated that the energy input of the two cultivation systems was significantly different in the use of diesel fuel, pesticide, electricity, irrigation, human labor, and total energy. Herbicide usage was higher in the direct seeding system than in the transplanting system, but other energy inputs were found to be higher in the transplanting system. The energy output of the transplanting system was higher than that of the direct seeding system. The energy input of the direct seeding system was lower than that of the transplanting system, resulting in a higher energy ratio, which suggests that the direct seeding system would increase energy efficiency and sustainability in rice production. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.