Contributers: Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD, Cornell University, USA Iswandi Anas, Biotechnology Lab, IPB, Indonesia O.P. Rupela, former Principal Scientist, ICRISAT, India A.K. Thakur, Directorate of Water Management, India T.M. Thiyagarajan, Tamil Nadu Agric. Univ., India Presented at: Conference of Association of Applied Biologists on Positive Plant-Microbial Interactions

1. Learning about positive plant-microbial interactions from the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Conference of Association of Applied Biologists on Positive Plant-Microbial Interactions Grantham, UK, December 15-16, 2009 Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD, Cornell University, USA Iswandi Anas, Biotechnology Lab, IPB, Indonesia O.P. Rupela, former Principal Scientist, ICRISAT, India A.K. Thakur, Directorate of Water Management, India T.M. Thiyagarajan, Tamil Nadu Agric. Univ., India

4. CUBA: farmer with two plants of same variety (VN 2084) and same age (52 DAP)

5. CAMBODIA: Rice plant grown from single seed in Takeo province

6. NEPAL: Single rice plant grown with SRI methods, Morang district

7. IRAN: SRI roots and normal (flooded) roots: note difference in color as well as size

8. IRAQ: Comparison trials at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station, Najaf

9. ‘ Rice Aplenty in Aceh’ (Indonesia) CARITAS NEWS Spring 2009 SRI methods were introduced in Aceh in 2005 by CARITAS Australia after tsunami had devastated the area – new methods raised local rice yields from 2 t/ha to 8.5 t/ha: “Using less rice seed, less water and organic compost, farmers in Aceh have quadrupled their crop production.”

10. 2009 Report from Aga Khan Foundation : Baghlan Province, Afghanistan 2008: 6 farmers got SRI yields of 10.1 t/ha vs. 5.4 t/ha regular 2009: 42 farmers got SRI yields of 9.3 t/ha vs. 5.6 t/ha regular 2 nd -year SRI farmers got 13.3 t/ha vs. 5.6 t/ha 1 st -year SRI farmers got 8.7 t/ha vs. 5.5 t/ha

11. AFGHANISTAN : SRI field in Baghlan Province, supported by Aga Khan Foundation Natural Resource Management program

12. SRI field at 30 days

13. SRI plant with 133 tillers @ 72 days after transplanting 11.56 t/ha

14. Report on SRI in Deorali Geog, BHUTAN , 2009 Sangay Dorji, Jr. Extension Agent, Deorali Georg, Dagana SRI @ 25x25cm 9.5 t/ha SRI random spacing 6.0 t/ha SRI @ 30x30cm 10.0 t/ha Standard practice 3.6 t/ha

15. Comparison of SRI and usual rice plants in INDONESIA Miyatty Jannah, Crawuk village, Ngawi, E. Java

16. INDONESIA: Sampoerna CSR Program, Malang, E. Java, 2009 Single SRI rice plant Variety: Ciherang No. of fertile tillers: 223

18. Extensions of SRI to Other Crops: Uttarakhand / Himachal Pradesh, India Rajma (kidney beans) Manduwa (millet) Crop No. of Farmers Area (ha) Grain Yield (t/ha) % Incr. 2006 Conv. SRI Rajma 5 0.4 1.4 2.0 43 Manduwa 5 0.4 1.8 2.4 33 Wheat Research Farm 5.0 1.6 2.2 38 2007 Rajma 113 2.26 1.8 3.0 67 Manduwa 43 0.8 1.5 2.4 60 Wheat (Irrig.) 25 0.23 2.2 4.3 95 Wheat (Unirrig.) 25 0.09 1.6 2.6 63

21. Evidence of Phenotypical Effects of SRI Practices

22. SRI LANKA: same rice variety, same irrigation system & same drought -- left, conventional methods; right, SRI

23. VIETNAM: D ông Trù village, Hanoi province, after typhoon

24. India: Meteorological and yield data from ANGRAU IPM evaluation, Andhra Pradesh, 2006 * Low yield was due to cold injury for plants (see above) *Sudden drop in min. temp. during 16–21 Dec. (9.2-9.8 o C for 5 days) Period Mean max. temp. 0 C Mean min. temp. 0 C No. of sunshine hrs 1 – 15 Nov 27.7 19.2 4.9 16–30 Nov 29.6 17.9 7.5 1 – 15 Dec 29.1 14.6 8.6 16–31 Dec 28.1 12.2 * 8.6 Season Normal (t/ha) SRI (t/ha) Rabi 2005-06 2.25 3.47 Kharif 2006 0.21* 4.16

25. Nepal: Crop duration (from seed to seed) of rice varieties with SRI vs. conventional methods – average no. of days: 125 vs. 141 Varieties Conventional duration SRI duration Difference Bansdhan/Kanchhi 145 127 (117-144) 18 (28-11) Mansuli 155 136 (126-146) 19 (29- 9) Swarna 155 139 (126-150) 16 (29- 5) Sugandha 120 106 (98-112) 14 (22- 8) Radha 12 155 138 (125-144) 17 (30-11) Barse 3017 135 118 17 Hardinath 1 120 107 (98-112) 13 (22- 8) Barse 2014 135 127 (116-125) 8 (19-10)

26. 47.9% 34.7% Non-Flooding Rice Farming Technology in Irrigated Paddy Field Dr. Tao Longxing, China National Rice Research Institute, 2004

28. Average super-rice yields (kg/ha) with new rice management (SRI) vs.standard rice management at different plant densities ha -1

29. AN ASSESSMENT OF PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI) COMPARED WITH RECOMMENDED RICE CULTIVATION PRACTICES IN INDIA A.K. Thakur, N. Uphoff, E. Antony Experimental Agriculture , 46(1), 77-98 (2010) Water-use efficiency is reflected in the ratio of photosynthesis to transpiration For the loss of 1 millimol of water by transpiration, In SRI plants, 3.6 millimols of CO 2 are fixed In RMP plants, 1.6 millimols of CO 2 are fixed

30. Comparison of chlorophyll content, transpiration rate, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and internal CO 2 concentration in SRI and RMP Standard deviations are given in parentheses (n = 15). Parameters Cultivation method SRI RMP LSD .05 Total chlorophyll (mg g -1 FW) 3.37 (0.17) 2.58 (0.21) 0.11 Chlorophyll a/b ratio 2.32 (0.28) 1.90 (0.37) 0.29 Transpiration (m mol m -2 s -1 ) 6.41 (0.43) 7.59 (0.33) 0.27 Net photosynthetic rate (μ mol m -2 s -1 ) 23.15 (3.17) 12.23 (2.02) 1.64 Stomatal conductance (m mol m -2 s -1 ) 422.73 (34.35) 493.93 (35.93) 30.12 Internal CO 2 concentration (ppm) 292.6 (16.64) 347.0 (19.74) 11.1

31. Data from Madagascar Suggested Contributions of Soil Microbial Populations and Plant-Microbial Interactions for Explaining SRI Effects

33. Effects of Active Soil Aeration with Mechanical Weeder Mechanical Weedings (N) Yield (t ha -1 ) MADAGASCAR: 1997-98 main season -- Ambatovaky (N=76) None 2 5.97 One 8 7.72 Two 27 7.37 Three 24 9.12 Four 15 11.77 NEPAL: 2006 monsoon season – Morang district (N=412) One 32 5.16 (3.6 – 7.6) Two 366 5.87 (3.5 – 11.0) Three 14 7.87 (5.85 – 10.4)

34. SRI Management Practices Can Modify Soil Microbial Populations

35. Microbial populations in rice rhizosphere Tamil Nadu Agricultural University research T. M. Thiyagarajan, WRRC presentation, Tsukuba, Japan, 2004 Microorganisms Conventional SRI Total bacteria 88 x 10 6 105 x 10 6 Azospirillum 8 x 10 5 31 x 10 5 Azotobacter 39 x 10 3 66 x 10 3 Phosphobacteria 33 x 10 3 59 x 10 3

36. Total bacteria Total diazotrophs Microbial populations in rhizosphere soil in rice crop under different management at active tillering, panicle initiation and flowering (SRI = yellow; conventional = red) [units are √ transformed values of population/gram of dry soil] Phosphobacteria Azotobacter

37. Dehydrogenase activity (μg TPF) Urease activity (μg NH 4 -N)) Microbial activities in rhizosphere soil in rice crop under different management (SRI = yellow; conventional = red) at active tillering, panicle initiation and flowering stages [units are √ transformed values of population/gram of dry soil per 24 h] Acid phosphate activity (μg p-Nitrophenol) Nitrogenase activity (nano mol C 2 H 4 )

38. Total microbes and numbers of beneficial microbes (CFU g -1 ) under conventional and SRI cultivation methods, Tanjung Sari, Bogor, Indonesia, Feb-Aug 2009 (Iswandi et al., 2009) Cultivation method and fertilization Total microbes (x10 5 ) Azoto-bacter (x10 3 ) Azospi- rillum (x10 3 ) P-solubilizing bacteria (x10 4 ) Conventional crop mgmt with NPK 2.3a 1.9a 0.9a 3.3a Inorganic SRI (NPK fertilizer) 2.7a 2.2a 1.7ab 4.0a Organic SRI (compost) 3.8b 3.7b 2.8bc 5.9b Inorganic SRI + biofertilizer 4.8c 4.4b 3.3c 6.4b

39. Endophytic Symbiotic Microbes (both Bacteria and Fungi) Contribute to Rice Plant Productivity -- and Not O nly in Rhizosphere May or may not apply to SRI, which is still ‘a work in progress’

40. Ascending Migration of Endophytic Rhizobia, from Roots and Leaves, inside Rice Plants and Assessment of Benefits to Rice Growth Physiology Feng Chi et al., Applied and Envir. Microbiology 71 (2005), 7271-7278 Rhizo-bium test strain Total plant root volume/ pot (cm 3 ) Shoot dry weight/ pot (g) Net photo-synthetic rate (μmol -2 s -1 ) Water utilization efficiency Area (cm 2 ) of flag leaf Grain yield/ pot (g) Ac-ORS571 210 ± 36 A 63 ± 2 A 16.42 ± 1.39 A 3.62 ± 0.17 BC 17.64 ± 4.94 ABC 86 ± 5 A SM-1021 180 ± 26 A 67 ± 5 A 14.99 ± 1.64 B 4.02 ± 0.19 AB 20.03 ± 3.92 A 86 ± 4 A SM-1002 168 ± 8 AB 52 ± 4 BC 13.70 ± 0.73 B 4.15 ± 0.32 A 19.58 ± 4.47 AB 61 ± 4 B R1-2370 175 ± 23 A 61 ± 8 AB 13.85 ± 0.38 B 3.36 ± 0.41 C 18.98 ± 4.49 AB 64 ± 9 B Mh-93 193 ± 16 A 67 ± 4 A 13.86 ± 0.76 B 3.18 ± 0.25 CD 16.79 ± 3.43 BC 77 ± 5 A Control 130 ± 10 B 47 ± 6 C 10.23 ± 1.03 C 2.77 ± 0.69 D 15.24 ± 4.0 C 51 ± 4 C

41. Data are based on the average linear root and shoot growth of three symbiotic (dashed line) and three nonsymbiotic (solid line) plants. Arrows indicate the times when root hair development started. Ratio of root and shoot growth in symbiotic and nonsymbiotic rice plants -- symbiotic plant seeds were inoculated with Fusarium culmorum Russell J. Rodriguez et al., ‘Symbiotic regulation of plant growth, development and reproduction,’ Communicative and Integrative Biology , 2:3 (2009).

42. Growth of nonsymbiotic (on left) and symbiotic (on right) rice seedlings. On growth of endophyte (F. culmorum) and plant inoculation procedures, see Rodriguez et al., Communicative and Integrative Biology , 2:3 (2009).