Evidence on the Opportunities for Development of Rice Production with the Adoption of the System of Rice Intensification, and Evaluation of Biological Nitrogen Fixation
Andry Andriankaja
Memoire de Fin d'Etudes (thesis) for the Department of Agriculture (Agronomy), Higher School for Agricultural Sciences (ESSA), University of Antananarivo, 2003.Below is the English Summary
(See full French version)Andry Andriankaja, Memoire de Fin d'Etudes (thesis) for the Department of Agriculture (Agronomy), Higher School for Agricultural Sciences (ESSA), University of Antananarivo, 2003.This thesis was based on field studies conducted in a highland village of Anjomakely, 18 km south of the Madagascar capital city of Antananarivo, on the High Plateau with an elevation about 1200m. Using Fisher bloc design for 6 factors and 3 replications, Andriankaja laid out 240 plots (all 2.5x2.5 m) on farmers' fields, with different combinations of plant age (8 vs. 16 days), hill size (1 plant vs. 3 plants), spacing (25x25 cm vs. 30x30cm), water management (water control to apply minimum amounts vs. continuous flooding), fertilization (compost vs. NPK fertilizer in recommended doses), and soils (better clay soil vs. poorer loam soil). Treatments for plant age, hill size, spacing and fertilization were randomly assigned. The same rice variety (riz rouge, the most popular local variety) was used on all plots, and there was no variation in weeding treatments (an additional SRI variable as evaluating this would have required twice as many plots). There was no difference in yields between the two spacing distances, both within the SRI recommended range, so analysis of the different combinations for five factors could be done with six replications. Five components of yield were measured for every plot in addition to measurement of yield, adjusting for moisture content of the paddy harvested.
A summary of results for this research is given in the paper on factorial trials in the proceedings from the Sanya conference on SRI in 2002 Andriankaja also evaluated the effects of SRI practices on biological nitrogen fixation, in the context of a discussion of this aspect of improving rice production systems.
