Beushening-a wonderful cultural operation of rainfed lowland rice in eastern India

摘要

Beushening is an age-old practice in the shallow submerged lowland rice (0-40 cm water depth) in most of the eastern states. Farmers from Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, eastern Madhya Pradesh and Assam practice beushening in direct dry seeded rice. The process involves ploughing, laddering and seedling redistribution as a way to loosen soil, control weeds and achieve desired plant stands. All these help farmers achieve moderately good production. Farmers believe this process to utilize lower labour inputs than traditional rice culture. The time of beushening depends on rainfall which starts from 30 days to as late as 90 days after seeding in certain years.