Discussions on mulching in rice fields
and SRI (the system of rice intensifcation)
(5/24/04 - 6/2/04)

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postings: 8
countries: Cambodia, Philippines, USA (Flordia, Hawaii, New York, Texas)
organizations/institutions: Barking Frogs Permaculture, CEDAC, Cornell University (CIIFAD), Minifarms, SRI Pilipinas Network

From: rverzola@gn.apc.org
To: mulch-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004
Subject: mulching in rice fields

Hi. I am Roberto Verzola from the Philippines. I am currently involved in an effort to get the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) tried more widely here. SRI is a set of management practices and principles that increase rice yields by 50-100% or even more. I have just come across a book on mulching by Ruth Stout and was wondering if her system (it sounds similar to SRI in some ways: mulch, plant, thin, harvest) can be adapted for rice. Her examples are mostly vegetables.

I would like to ask if anyone on this list has had (or is aware of) any experience on mulching rice fields and if there are any lessons or caveats you may offer.

Thank you very much.

Roberto Verzola
Philippines


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From: Minifarms@aol.com
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004
Subject: SRI
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)

(In the actual discussion on which this archive is based, Ken at Minifarms forwarded a section of the ECHO Development Notes [issue #70]. Here is a link to the on-line EDN article entitled SRI, the System of Rice Intensification: Less Can Be More by Dawn Berkelaar. SRI was developed in Madagascar in the early 1980s by Father Henri de Laulaníe.)

(While the actual article doesn't have much on mulch, it does have this to say about organic inputs. "SRI was developed initially with chemical fertilizers to increase yield on the very poor soils of Madagascar. But when subsidies were removed in the later 1980s, recommendations switched to use of compost, and even better results were observed. The compost can be made from any biomass (e.g. rice straw, plant trimmings and other plant material), with some animal manure added if available. Banana leaves can add more potassium, cuttings from leguminous shrubs add more nitrogen, and other plants such as Tithonia and Afromomum angustifolium, may be high in phosphorous. Compost adds nutrients to the soil slowly and can also contribute to a better soil structure. It seems fairly intuitive that some form of nutrient input is necessary on poor soils if chemical fertilizer is not added. With huge yields of rice being harvested, something needs to be returned to the soil!")

[The original source in Ken's e-mail was cited as http://www.organicts.com/bworld.com.ph]


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From: Yang Saing Koma
To: <MULCH-L@cornell.edu> (MULCH-L)
Subject: Re: mulching in rice fields
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004

Dear Roberto,

A lot of farmers in Cambodia now is using rice straw and other green leaf material (especially from nitrogen fixing tree) to mulch their rice field after transplanting, and they can get better results if compared to not mulching. There is also more activity of beneficial insects and aquatic life (e.g. frog etc). I also got very good results on my own rice field in 2001, almost double of yield if compared to not mulching. But the amount of biomass used was very high (1.8 kg per m², and it consists mainly leaf of Gliricidia sepium and local weeds). This year, we try to organize systematic experimentation by working with our key farmers, and I think we can share with you by the end of this season (January 2004). I encourage you to do the same experimentation in your country. Then, we can share together.

Regards,
Koma
CEDAC
Cambodia

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From: YankeePerm@aol.com
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004
Subject: Re: mulching in rice fields
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)

Hi Roberto:
We are just at the beginning stages of work with rice at Barking Frogs Permaculture Center in Florida. (By beginning stages, I mean that our first step is to just increase our seed!) I would be very interested in SRI detail, perhaps privately. When I was teaching Permaculture in the Philippines, which was back in 1987, there was a system called FARMEX which seemed to have promise, though I think it would have done more good if not tied to sales of certain fertilizers.

The problem of attempting mulch on any broadscale is of course getting enough organic matter to do any good at all. There is a system called living mulch which involves growing noncompeting plants that provide some benefit to the main crop. In dryland temperate crops white clover (Trifolium repens) is used as a living mulch. With rice, Azolla and duckweed can serve as a shade in flood cycles to suppress emergence of aquatic weeds. One of the most promising systems I've read up on, and frankly have yet to practice, is the raising of ducks with rice. Tagari publications in Australia has published an English translation (from the Japanese) of the basic book on this method, under the title of: *The Power of Duck*. (Alas, the author's name slips my mind.) This is the system we will work to adapt to our conditions in Florida marshlands with unpredictably fluctuating water tables. We are already gaining experience with ducks, and will gradually merge rice and ducks as we go along. My intention was to use the Farmex planting patterns with this system, and use Indian Runners as the duck breed since we have more of an interest in eggs than duck flesh. (It's a lot less time to crack an egg than to pluck a duck!) Already, we
have seen the powerful effect of ducks on insect control. The Power of Duck method matches the age of ducklings with the age of rice seedlings. The ducklings and later mature ducks tend to push the weeds into the mud, which is sort of an animated mulch system. They also eat a lot of the Azolla and duckweed, and of course return fertilizer directly to the rice paddy.

I don't know if this will be of any help. I am certainly interested in hearing more about SRI.

Dan Hemenway

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From: "william cook"
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: RE: mulching in rice fields
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004

Roberto/Mulchophiles.......Let me throw in my two cents worth now. Ruth Stout explained the origin of her method some 25 years ago in OG magazine.

She could not have her garden plowed one spring and, looking at the mulched asparagus and rhubarb nearby said to herself, if they don't need plowing why the rest, and so she had a neighbor deliver bales of straw which she spread over the garden, thus beginning a no-till technique.

In 1836 here in Hawaii, David Malo wrote of Hawaiians farming without irrigation as follows:

"They would clear the land and MULCH it for many months, until the ground was thickly covered and the mulch had ROTTED, after which they planted......"
Since even grasses and miscellaneous weeds contain some quantity of NPK etc. with numbers like .1N/.4P/.2K, simply using much more does the trick.

One other clue, I recently wrote a prof from Germany who visited home gardens in Cuba, asking him whether they take home gardening seriously and whether they know the value of legumes. He said they do indeed take it seriously, and it is now socially acceptable since the USSR is no more and sends no food for sugar, and that legumes are not so much used. But, what they do is MULCH. In a city, Havana e.g., one could collect leaves and weeds.

Thus....I would try laying out an Are sized plot and spreading a quintal of straw or weeds upon it, i.e. 10T/HA,wait two months, repeat, another two months, again and then set out seedlings into the rotted mulch.

Thanks,

WmCook
Honolulu
++++++ ______________________________________________________
From: Minifarms@aol.com
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004
Subject: SRI
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)

Mr. Fukuoka has 50 years experience producing rice, no-tll. Read his book ONE STRAW REVOLUTION. Out of print. Libraries in some places have it. I now teach only no-till gardening and farming. 72,000,000 hectares worldwide now.
Ken Hargesheimer

No-Till With Permanent Beds

India: Mr. Mann planted rice on beds. He obtained 8.3 tons/ha on one field with 50% savings in water. He will be experimenting further on 0-till wheat on beds this season. He had excellent fields with these techniques.

Mrs Shakuntla Mehla is the prime mover of zero-till technology, which caught on in Haryana like wild fire in the previous winter season. She has a 40-acre farm and experimented with rice on beds. She is planning to plant wheat into the same beds.

Mr Daler Singh, a farmer had planted 6 acres of land with rice on beds in Punjab. He obtained almost 9 tons/ha and also saved water. He intends to grow wheat on the same beds and then transplant mentha plants in the furrows before wheat harvest. In the next few years, it seems that bed planting will become a common practice for farmers in North-west India and we plan to extend this technology so as to ensure minimal field preparation for both rice and wheat.

Mexico: Bed planting systems for wheat reduce the ecological impact of wheat cropping. In Mexico’s Yaqui Valley more than 90% of farmers have adopted the practice. In this system, wheat is planted on top of raised beds. Residues may be left on the soil surface. The reason farmers give for adopting bed planting is that the system reduces production costs—by an estimated 30%.

USA: We begin shifting the mini-farm toward no-till in the spring of 1995. The beds were fitted with irrigation lines, mulched and planted by confining all traffic to the walkways. Any weeds which make it through the mulch are pulled and placed on top of the litter to decompose. We are essentially sheet-mulching the beds with a per-manent cover of continually decomposing organic matter which serves as weed barrier and fertilizer. Dripping Springs Gardens, Huntsville AR

1. No-Till Principles

In Honduras, farmers are farming up to ten acres, organically, using no-till, with hand tools only. One third of the farmers in Argentina no longer plow. This occurred in only ten years. The results come quickly: reduced cost, reduced labor, richer soils, higher yields, no outside inputs and increased income. There are thousands of acres of no-till in Iowa but chemicals are used which is not recommended.

Farmers in Brazil, who are the most experienced no-till farmers in the world, are farming thousands of acres, practicing the following five principles.

1. Maximize organic matter production.
2. Keep the soil covered at all times. Use a crop residue, green manure, cover crop, mulch, etc.
3. Use zero tillage. The worst thing that can ever happen to a soil is the use of a rototiller. USDA ag extension service agent in a video. Ditto: moldboard plow, disk, lister, oneway, cultivator, etc. Tillage is destructive to soil.
4. Maintain biological diversity. Use many different legume/non-legume, green-manure/cover crops.
5. Feed plants through the mulch. Spread organic fertilizers, minerals, etc. on top of the mulch.


Roland Bunch, COSECHA, Honduras

Natural Farming

Mr. Fukuoka was returning to the family farm by train. He noticed along the railroad tracks that rice was growing. It was not planted each year, was not irrigated, was not fertilized and was not sprayed with anything but it came up and produced every year. He wondered why rice could not be produced that way on the family farm. After some failures, he succeeded and been practicing what he calls Natural Farming for over 60 years. He applied it to the orchard and nearly half the trees died. But he learned how to manage the orchard naturally. Thousands of people have been to his farm for tours and to study. Natural Farming yields are equal to or greater than conventional farming. Inputs are almost zero. Seed balls are used for planting [see library].

Make your way carefully through these fields. Dragonflies and moths fly up. Honeybees buzz. Part the leaves and you will see insects, spiders, frogs, lizards and many other small animals bustling about in the cool shade. Moles and earthworms burrow beneath the surface. This is a balanced rice field ecosystem. Insect and plant communities maintain a stable relationship here. It is not uncommon for a plant disease to sweep through this area of Japan, leaving the crops in my fields unaffected.

Now look over at the neighbor's field. The weeds have all been wiped out by herbicides and cultivation. The soil animals and insects have been exterminated by poison. The soil has been burned clean of organic matter and microorganisms by chemical fertilizers. These rice fields, which have been farmed continuously for 1500 years, have now been laid waste by the exploitive farming practices of a single generation.” One Straw Revolution, M Fukuoka.

He follows these four principles:
1. No cultivation: Farmers have assumed that the plow is essential for growing crops. However, non-cultivation is fundamental to natural farming. The earth cultivates itself naturally by means of the penetration of plant roots and the activity of microorganisms, small animals and earthworms.
2. No chemical fertilizer: People interfer with nature.
3. No weeding by tillage or herbicides: Weeds play their part in building soil fertility and in balancing the biological community. Weeds should be controlled, not eliminated.
4. No Dependence on chemicals: From the time that weak plants developed as a result of such unnatural practices as plowing and fertilizing, disease and insect imbalance became a great problem. Nature, left alone, is in perfect balance.

Ken Hargesheimer
M inifarms
Texas

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To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
From: "H. David Thurston"
Subject: RE: mulching in rice fields

More references from TAPP database
Matches for query: green AND manure and rice in TAPP
Number of matches in the database: 15
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Sustainability of wheat-rice cropping systems: use of Indigofera tinctoria intercropped with wheat as a green manure for the rice crop
Conference Proceedings
Author: Mann, R. A.
Abstract: The results showed that indigo interplanting with wheat did not affect wheat growth and grain yield. An average wheat grain yield of 2.57 t/ha under lowland conditions was obtained compared with 2.20 t/ha under upland conditions. Indigo grew very slowly during the active growth period of wheat, then rapidly in the later period, and accumulated sufficient amounts of dry matter and N in 9 growth duration of 165 days up to soil incorporation at rice transplanting. A range of 4-9.5 t/ha dry matter yield of indigo with N addition of 107-257 kg N/ha was obtained under lowland conditions; under upland, the respective figures were 3-6 t/ha with 87-180 kg N/ha. In transplanted rice, green manure increased N release, leaf area index, total dry matter and grain yield over the control. A range of 4.6-5.0 t/ha was achieved with the green manure treatments compared with the 3.5 t/ha yield of the control. However, the effect of different plant densities of green manure was not observed. On the other hand, green manure did not increase the grain yield of upland rice. A supplemental dose of inorganic fertilizer was found more effective than green manure. An average of 1.2 t/ha paddy yield of dry seeded rice was obtained. In the third field experiment, wheat was sown on three dates with an interval of 15 days, while indigo was interplanted with wheat at the same day 30, or 60 days later. The results indicated that indigo intercropped with wheat either at the same day or 30 days later did not adversely affect wheat growth and grain yield. An average of 2.18 t/ha grain yield was recorded, the highest with the early sown wheat. Indigo crop grown at earlier dates produced higher biomass and accumulated more N compared with that where sowing was
delayed for a maximum of 60 days. Rice grain yield was increased with high biomass green manure particularly when indigo was interplanted with early sowing dates of wheat. The fourth experiment conducted under a controlled environment showed that indigo growth was not possible at temperature as low as 18/12 deg C and at 9/15 h photoperiod.
Publisher: College, Laguna (Philippines), Philippines Univ.
Conference Name: College, Laguna (Philippines), Philippines Univ.
Conference Location: College, Laguna (Philippines), Philippines Univ.
Year of Conference: 1990
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effect of green manure on soil organic matter content and nitrogen availability.
Book Section
Author: Bouldin, D.R. .
Abstract: green manure on soil organic matter content and nitrogen availability, green manures may contribute (over 100 kg N per ha annually?)
Pages: 151-164.
Publisher: In: International Rice Research Institute, ed., Green manure in rice farming: Proceedings of a symposium on sustainable agriculture. IRRI, Los Banos, Philippines. pp. 151-164.
City: Los Banos, Philippines.
Year: 1988
Keywords: rice, organic matter, cover crops, nitrogen
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Role of green manure in low-input farming in the humid tropics
Book Section
Author: Van der Heide, J.
Notes: Mann S667.R5 G79 1988
Publisher: pp. 185-192. In: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Green manure in rice farming : proceedings of a symposium on sustainable agriculture : the role of green manure crops in rice farming systems. IRRI, 379 p.
City: Los Banos, The Philippines
Year: 1988
Keywords: Role of green manure in low-input farming in the humid tropics, organic matter,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Utilizing Eupatorium odoratum L. to improve crop yields in Cambodia
Journal Article
Author: Litzenberger, S. C.; Lip, Hong Tong
Abstract: Average lowland rice yields 1/2 to 1 t/ha, Eupatorium odoratum (now Chromolaena odorata} introduced from W. Indies, got 2X as much rice with 15 t/ha green mulch as check, crabs controlled in rice also, conducted experiments 1958-1960, 20 t/ha of Eupatorium applied to rice paddy increased yields an average of 1.26 t/ha, toxic to fish, but crabs controlled, no difference in applying Eupatorium as mulch or incorporating it as a mulch, with cassava Eupatorium applied at 45 t/ha gave a yield of 22 t/ha compared to 10 t/ha in check,with cassava Eupatorium applied at 20 t/ha gave a yield of 14 t/ha compared to 10 t/ha in check, applied as a mulch of 45 t/ha to black pepper helped control Pythium and nematodes (Heterodera marioni),
Volume: 53
Issue: 1-6
Pages: 321-324
Journal: Agron. J.
Year: 1961
Keywords: weed, Cambodia, Chromolaena odorata, mulch, green manure, rice, pepper, cassava
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agronomic feasibility and efficiency of Indigofera tinctoria as a green manure in rice-based cropping systems.
Conference Proceedings
Author: Pye, T.
Abstract: Results of the studies revealed that indigo has unique growth and adoptive characteristics that permitted it to fit soundly in post-rice and pre-rice mungbean/indigo and maize/indigo systems with a considerable biological and agronomic efficiency. In the maize/indigo intercrop system, maize being four to six times as competitive as indigo, grain yield was not affected by indigo intercropping. At the same time, due to its indeterminate growth habit, developmental plasticity and ability to utilize efficiently the increased aerial and soil space available after the harvest of maize, indigo recovered remarkably from the heavily depressive growth and contributed substantial dry matter and essential nutrients to the following rice with a resultant high rice grain yield (115-116% over control). Mungbean was less competitive than indigo. When the intercrops were simultaneously planted, mungbean yield was reduced by 26% due to indigo intercropping. Delayed planting of indigo (for 26 days relative to mungbean in this study) however, resulted to comparable yields of mungbean in sole and intercrop systems. Moreover, inspite of relatively less dry matter yield compared to that of simultaneously planted indigo with mungbean, delayed planted indigo nevertheless contributed dry matter and nutrients to the subsequent rice in quantities sufficient for fairly high grain yield (63% over control). Biological efficiencies of intercrop systems as measured by DMLERs and DMATERs were considerable. Dry matter yields of indigo ranged from 6 to 14 t/ha in post-rice cropping systems and from 4 to 10 t/ha in pre-rice cropping systems, respectively. The competitive relationships among the component crops with respect to N, P, K, Ca, Mg were available. However, the nutrient uptake patterns and the amount of nutrients, ultimately incorporated in the subsequent rice closely corresponded with dry matter yield accumulation patterns and dry matter yield of the intercrops.
Publisher: College, Laguna (Philippines), Philippines Univ.
Conference Name: College, Laguna (Philippines), Philippines Univ.
Conference Location: College, Laguna (Philippines), Philippines Univ.
Year of Conference: 1990
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A primer on organic-based rice farming
Book
Author: Pandey, R. K.
Abstract: describes 50 legumes suited to various rice-growing environments
Number of Pages: 201 pp
Publisher: International Rice Research Institute and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
City: Manila, Philippines
Year: 1991
Keywords: rice, organic farming, green manure crops,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Land resources, soils and their management in the Amazon region: a state of knowledge report
Book Section
Author: Cochrane, T. T.; Sanchez, P. A.
Pages: pp. 137-209.
Publisher: In: Hecht, S. B. (ed.) Amazonia: Agriculture and Land Use Research. CIAT Series 03E (82) CIAT, Cali, Colombia. 428 pp
Year: 1982
Keywords: Land resources, soils and their management in the Amazon region, climate subregions, soil geography, flood plains, slash and burn, ash, nutrient contribution of ash, intensive continuous crop production - Yurimaguas, low input continuous crop production - Yurimaguas, one strateguy investigated was "the use of kudzu (Pueraria phaseoloides) as mulch or green manure. Kudzu mulch or green manure produced yields of soybeans, peanuts, cowpeas and upland rice on the order of 80 to 90 percent of that acheived in heavily fertilized plots without organic additions for five continuous crops."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local tree outyields chemical fertilizers
Journal Article
Author: Chhetri, P.; Burpee, G.
Abstract: Nepalese farmers use the leaves of a tree called asuro (Adhatoda vasic) or Malabar nut tree as a green manure for rice, potatoes, and maize. Leaves are chopped and applied to field where they decompose prior to planting. Also control termites.
Volume: 8
Issue: 4
Pages: 13-14
Journal: ILEIA Newsletter
Year: 1992
Keywords: green manure/ Nepal
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Indigofera tinctoria L. as a green manure crop in rainfed rice based cropping systems.
Conference Proceedings
Author: Bantilan, R. T.; Bantilan, C. C.; al., et
Publisher: IRRI Saturday Seminar, Los Banos, Laguna (Philippines)
Conference Location: IRRI Saturday Seminar, Los Banos, Laguna (Philippines)
Year of Conference:
Keywords: slash/mulch system, green manure
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Wild sunflower as a green manure for rice in the mid country wet zone.
Journal Article
Author: Nagarajah, S.; Nizar, B. M.
Volume: 138
Pages: 69-80
Journal: Trop Agric (Colombo, Colombo: Ceylon, Dept. of Agriculture,
Year: 1982
Keywords: Sri-lanka, tithonia-diversifolia, wild sunflower, green-manures, crop-yield., oryza-sativa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azolla as a Green Manure: Use and Management in Crop Production
Book
Author: Lumpkin, T. A.; Plucknett, D. L.
Notes: Azolla adds nitrogen and organic matter.
Number of Pages: 230 pp
Publisher: Westview Press
City: Boulder, CO.
Year: 1982
Keywords: green manure/rice/paddy/organic matter/nitrogen
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The Bontoc rice terraces: high and stable yields
Journal Article
Author: Padilla, Hilario
Abstract: The Bontoc rice terraces: high and stable yields. His sampling gave average yields of 6.1 t/ha. Omengan (1981) reported yields of 6.2 t/ha without modern cultivars, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Philippine national yield is 2.5 t/ha. flooding (maintain 5-10 cm water throughout growing period - azolla and blue green algaie contribute N and P), puddling, simultaneous planting with whole panicles (prevents rat damage), dense planting, reports few pests and diseases, use copious quantities of organic matter (ie. sunflowers - Thitania sp.) - which also control a worm causing holes in terraces, pig manure, weeds, bedding material cut from grasslands for pigs). "Soil life if maintained through nutrient recycling and the use of biomass like weeds and sunflower."
Notes: S494.5 S86 I27
Volume: 1&2
Pages: 4-6.
Journal: ILEIA Newsletter
Year: 1991
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Permanent farming on Ukara
Book Section
Author: Ludwig, Heinz-Dieter
Publisher: pp. 87-135. In: Ruthenberg, H. 1968. Smallholder farming and smallholder development in Tanzania: ten case studies. Weltfrom Verlag, Munich.
Year: 1968
Keywords: forage tree, slash, manure, organic matter, irrigation, millet, rice, bambara nuts, cassava, rotation, green manure, erosion
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Chromolaena odorata. Weed for the killing or shrub for the tilling
Journal Article
Author: Baxter, Joan
Abstract: Chromolaena odorata was once called Eupatorium odoratum, it is indigenous to Central America, rubber, oil palm and coconut plantation owners want to get rid of it as a noxious weed, using biological control to get rid of it, but it suppresses Imperata cylindrica and small farmers in Indonesia use it as a soil fertilizer. It is a good cover crop and green manure for various crops (ie. cassava and irrigated rice),
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
Pages: 6-8
Journal: Agroforestry Today
Year: 1995
Keywords: Imperata cylindrica, Chromolaena odorata, bush-fallow rotation, succession, slash-and-burn, fallow period, biomass, land-use intensification, noxious weeds
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H. David Thurston
Dept. of Plant Pathology
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

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From: Lucy Fisher
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: RE: mulching in rice fields
Date: Wed, 2 June 2004

Mulch-L:

The archived recent mulch-L discussion on mulching in rice fields (May 2004) can be found at http://mulch.mannlib.cornell.edu/ml/ricemulch.html. Please note that additional material on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) can be found at the SRI website at http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/.

Those of you who have been mulch-L subscribers for a while may remember a similar discussion on green manures in rice paddies that took place in 2001. The archive of this discussion (which also mentions SRI) can be found at http://mulch.mannlib.cornell.edu/ml/ricepaddies.html.

Lucy
PS Anyone needing additional information on mulching in SRI might contact Roberto (who started the discussion) as he received additional material that was not posted to the list. His e-mail is: rverzola@gn.apc.org