SUITABILITY OF CAPSULE AS A PADDY COATING MATERIAL FOR THE SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI)

One of the challenges faced by farmers in adopting the system of rice intensification is the seed establishment required high labor demand. This research aims at providing an alternative to seedling transplanting for the system of rice intensification. In this research the paddy seed was enhanced with the use of pharmaceutical capsule as a seed coating material for ease of seed singulation and suitability in handling by a conventional direct seeding technique. It covers the study of capsules as a suitable paddy seed coating material. The solubility of starch and gelatin capsules in water was studied at three different temperatures of 25 degrees C, 35 degrees C, and 45 degrees C. Three paddy seed treatments of dry seeds, primed seed, and pre germinated were each placed in to the capsule at the ratio of 1:1 and planted in the soil with three replications. The planted seeds were irrigated two times daily for a period of 10 days within which the germination and emergence were recorded on daily bases. Gelatin capsule was found to be soluble in water at temperature of 45 degrees C and above. Starch capsule on the other hand was found to be soluble at temperatures of 25 degrees C which made it the more suitable paddy coating material in comparison with the gelatin capsule. The germination and emergence results of starch capsule coated paddy were found to be 95%, 83%, and 58% for the pre germinated, primed, and dry paddy seeds respectively.