Volume 9 Issue 1

Rethinking the concept of 'yield ceiling' for rice: implications of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for agricultural science and practice

Author(s): NORMAN UPHOFF
Abstract:This paper discusses the principles of the system of rice intensification (SRI), and summarizes the results of experiments, conducted mainly in India, on the efficacy of this cropping system in improving rice yields, and the soil conditions and crop management aspects contributing to the enhancement of rice productivity. The implications of the very high yields obtained under SRI for the generally accepted concept of yield ceiling (maximum attainable yield set by the genetic potential of the plant) are also discussed.

Fig: Rice plant (Ciherang cv.) with 223 tillers grown from single seedling with SRI
methods. Presented to author by farmers at Panda'an training center in East Java,
Indonesia, October 2009.

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