Where and how rice grows, and is it possible to grow it at home

Eating rice for breakfast, lunch or dinner, rarely anyone thinks about where this crop grows and what unusual conditions are needed to get a harvest. From the article you will find out where rice grows, what it looks like and how to grow it at home.

Features of culture

Rice - annual hydrophyte crop... Its cultivation requires flooded soil, irrigation or a lot of rainfall. He loves the sun, cloudy weather interferes with development. The optimum temperature for rice growth is + 25 ... + 28 ° С. When the temperature drops to 15 ° C, its development slows down. And if the temperature drops to 12 ° C, this will lead to empty grain.

Nutritional support affects cereal yield... Nitrogen deficiency leads to a slowdown in growth and a decrease in yield, and its excess leads to an increase in vegetative mass, a decrease in the mass of grains and fungal infection.

Botanical description

Rice has a fibrous root system that penetrates 20-30 cm and consists of the main and adventitious roots. A distinctive feature of its roots is the presence of tissue with air-conducting cavities (aerenchyma). Thanks to her, the root system is saturated with oxygen from the stems and leaves.

The stem is straw up to 1.5-2 m high.

The leaves are long and narrow with a well-defined vein. Leaf length - about 50 cm, width - 1 cm.

Inflorescence - paniclereaching up to 30 cm in length. The fruit is a caryopsis found in flowering scales.

Rice is a self-pollinating plant... Cross-pollination is rare.

Rice in a crop rotation

Rice is cultivated according to special five to nine field crop rotations... Take breaks to create a favorable environment for re-seeding. At this time, the fields are freed from flooding and dry-growing plants - alfalfa, sweet clover, clover - are planted on them, or the territories are left fallow.

The main purpose of the steam link - carrying out reclamation and repair work. At this time, green manure plants are grown to improve the structure of the soil, enrich it with nutrients and inhibit the growth of weeds.

The best plants to grow under steam:

• Vika;
• rape;
• peas;
• rank;
• a mixture of legumes and cereals;
• buckwheat.

After the fallow field, rice is sown for two years, and after grass and legumes, for three.

The use of pure steam in the rice crop rotation has not proven itself... In this case, a loss of such an important nutrient as nitrogen occurs, because after a new flooding, it escapes into the atmosphere, being reduced to free molecular nitrogen from the nitrate form.

How and where does rice grow

Rice is common in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and South America. A tropical climate is considered a suitable climate for its cultivation, but it is also found in the subtropics.... In Russia, culture grows in the Krasnodar and Primorsky Territories, the Astrakhan and Rostov Regions, as well as in the Chechen Republic and Kalmykia.

There are several ways to grow:

1. Dry rice growing used in areas with rare rainfall, warm summers and low-lying marshy areas.
2. Irrigated rice Is the most popular method. For this, the territories are specially flooded - dug ditches are filled with water, which is lowered half a month before harvesting so that the soil dries up a little.
3. Liman rice growing - an ineffective method used only in some areas in the south and east of Asia. Bays of rivers and places with floods are used for growing crops.

Growing in water

Despite the fact that rice grows well in normal soil, growing in water increases yields... Why does rice grow better in water? This is due to the fact that weeds cannot grow in such conditions, and more space is left for the development of useful grains. The plant also receives food from the water.

Features of cultivation depending on the type of rice

According to the shape and grain size, rice is divided into three types:

• long-grain;
• medium grain;
• round grain.

The cultivation technology for different species is the same.

When growing rice, sow seedlings first... After 30-50 days, it is planted in soil filled with water. After the grains are ripe, the water is drained and the plant is allowed to dry out.

Then the crop is harvested and additionally dried, after which the grains are threshed. Then the husks are removed from them and, if necessary, the top layer - to obtain white rice.

Agrotechnics

For a large harvest observe cultivation technology:

1. Crop rotation... When growing rice, its conditions cannot be neglected.
2. Tillage... The method depends on the type of soil. For chernozem, plowing with moldboard plows to a depth of 20 cm is suitable, for salt marshes - non-moldboard plowing to the same depth. Solonetzic soils are cultivated to a depth of 15 cm by shallow plowing. If bog plants grow, they plow to a distance greater than the depth of the roots. Then the field is leveled and loosened if necessary.
3. Sowing rice... Basically, an ordinary sowing method is used. The seeding rate of seeds is 5.5-7 million germinating grains per hectare, the seeding depth is 1.5-2 cm.
4. Fertilizers... Rice needs nitrogen, potash and phosphorus fertilizers. A ton of rice grain requires 24.2 kg of nitrogen, 12.4 kg of phosphorus, 30 kg of potassium. Organic fertilizers are applied during reclamation work or the steam link.
5. Crop care includes feeding, spraying, desiccation, senication, disease and pest control.
6. Harvest... Harvested in a separate way and by direct combining with preliminary treatment with desiccants.

Where rice plantations are grown in the world

Although Asia is considered the home of this cereal, it now grows all over the world.... The leaders in rice production are China and India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.

In different countries they grow different varieties:

• long-grain - Asia, Australia, America;
• round grain - China, Russia, Ukraine, Italy;
• medium grain - Italy, Spain, North America, Australia;
• jasmine - Thailand;
• basmati - north of India and Pakistan;
• the black - China;
• red - France;
• wild - USA, Canada.

In China

In China, rice is grown in water-flooded fields... First, the seeds are sown in a special greenhouse in the soil, which is a mixture of mud and water. The most resistant plants survive in such soil. When the seedlings grow to 10 cm, they are thrown into the water. When their length reaches 50 cm, flowering will begin.

At this time, grains are formed. After harvesting, rice is laid out right on the road, letting it dry, and then taken to the warehouse. Under optimal conditions, rice is stored for a year, packed up - up to 3 years.

In Russia

Rice is grown in Russia in May... First, the land is thoroughly watered. When the sprouts reach a height of 15-20 cm, the fields are flooded with water. The tops of the sprouts should stick out above the water. Fields are drained 15-20 days before harvesting.

In India

In India, rice is pre-germinated for 1-2 months... Sprouted grains are placed in soil with water. Rice fields are drained before harvesting or weeding. Harvest before the leaves of the plants turn yellow. One field in India is harvested 2-4 times a year.

In thailand

Grains are thrown into the prepared soil and wait for the sprouts to appear... Then the sprouts are collected and evenly planted. Cereals are grown for 30 days.During harvesting, the rice is cut and the grain is beaten into a separate container. Then it is cleaned of debris, polished or subjected to steaming.

In Italy

First, the soil is prepared, the checks are poured with water, then the grains are sown from the tractors... After a week, the fields are drained to root the grains. Then again it is poured 10 cm and this mode is maintained. Harvesting begins when the stems reach a height of 1.5 m. The harvested grain is dried, packaged and stored.

In Japan

Humus is scattered across the field, then it is flooded and plowed... This swamp becomes a nursery for rice seeds that are sown there. When the shoots have grown to 20 cm, they are manually transplanted into the field. The soil between the rows of plants is weeded, loosened and then mulched. Rice straw is used as mulch. It helps to retain water in a field that remains flooded for 3 months. The crop is harvested by hand or using combines.

Yield

Leading countries in rice cultivation are harvested several times in year.

Reference. The average rice yield is about 60 kg / ha. The maximum yield is up to 150 c / ha.

Rice yield largely depends on crop rotation... Depending on which crops were grown in front of it, more or less cereals were received. If rice was planted after growing steam-bearing crops, its yield increased compared to rice crops before which catch crops were not grown. Higher productivity was when intermediate plants were grown as green manure.

How rice is harvested

Before harvesting, the water is drained and the field is dried so that the harvesting equipment can drive over it. About 15 days after the water leaves, you can start harvesting.

Harvesting begins when the grain is ripe... This can be understood by the color of the caryopsis shells.

Rice is harvested in a two-phase waybecause the grains do not ripen at the same time. When the moisture content of the grains in the forks is 15%, the rice is threshed. High yields require double threshing to reduce grain loss and damage.

To accelerate ripening, senication is carried out, and for drying the stems and obtaining the possibility of one-phase harvesting - desiccation.

The one-phase method is used for thinned stems or early frosts.

Immediately after harvesting, the grain is processed - dried and passed through cleaning machines.

Is it possible to grow rice at home

Experienced farmers grow rice on their land and even get a harvest.

Not all regions will be able to grow this culture, since for it special conditions needed:

• daytime temperature for 3-6 months + 22 ... + 25 ° С, night temperature - not lower than + 15 ° С;
• the site should be warmed up by the sun;
• the ability to make a flooded garden;
• availability of an irrigation system.

To grow rice in your garden, you should knowhow to properly care for him.

How to do it

Rice loves warmth and moisture... Find a suitable place - it must be sunny. It is necessary to plant in late spring, when the temperature is already consistently high. Some farmers plant grains directly into the ground, but the seedling method is more effective.

Prepare your beds or boxes. Remove the weeds, dig up and water the garden. The soil should always be moist.

Prepare planting material - soak it for 12-36 hours in room temperature water. Make holes or furrows in the garden bed, fill with water and distribute the germinated grains in them. Cover with earth and water again.

When the seedlings grow to 2 cm, fill the garden with 2.5 cm of water.

If the shoots are sitting too close together, thin out the planting. The distance between shoots should be 30 cm.

Reference. When using the seedling method, sprouts are planted in the ground that have grown to 2 cm.

Ripening of grains takes 3-4 months... Allow the water to dry or pump out before harvesting. After two weeks, the cereal can be harvested when the grain dries out and turns yellow.The stems are cut directly under the ears and folded in a dry, ventilated room for 2-4 weeks, so that the grain is completely dry. Then the grains are removed and dried again in the oven. The rice is cooled and peeled. You will get rice grown by yourself.

Conclusion

Rice growing is a laborious process that requires technical equipment and deep knowledge. To obtain a tasty and healthy grain, specially created conditions are required. At home, it can be grown with a lot of effort.