6 Indian Research Journal of Extension Education, Special Issue (Volume II), 2012 Impact of Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) For Resource Conservation Neeraj Singh 1 , B. Singh 2 , A.B. Rai 3 , A.K. Dubey 4 and Ashok Rai 5 1,2,3,4 & 5. Scientists, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi (UP) Corresponding author e-mail:neerajatic@gmail.com ABSTRACT Puddling doesn’t have much influence on rice yields. Many changes and innovations have contributed to the expanding use of resource conserving technologies in the country. One of the most important has been the development, testing and marketing of a low cost seed-cum-fertilizer drill which can establish crops with a minimum of soil disturbance, can take best advantage of residual soil moisture and thereby reduce irrigation requirements, can help improve the timeliness of sowing, can place seed and fertilizer nutrients at suitable soil depths, and can foster the development of innovative inter-cropping systems that are particularly suitable for flood-prone and drought-prone environments. During 2008-10 efforts has been made for resource conservation in paddy by introducing DSR and short duration rice varieties (Krishna Hansa, NDR-97, PRH-10 etc) at the farmers’ fields of Kushinagar district in U.P. The results revealed that in DSR, Krishna Hansa has performed significantly well fetching grain yield of 56.57 q/ha whereas, Rajshree variety of paddy is successful under low land condition fetching an average yield of 46.71 q/ha compare to traditional variety which fetched only 30.87 q/ha. Key words: Direct seeded rice; High yielding varieties; Yield; Economics; T he process of change has begun to transform the paradigm of agricultural research and development. A transformation represented by an on-going shift from conventional to conservation agriculture ie., from an earlier set of principles based on massive soil inversion with a plough towards a new set of principles based on minimal soil disturbance, management of crop residues and innovative cropping systems is the best option of farming under rice-wheat cropping system. Recent studies indicate a slowdown in the productivity of growth in the rice-wheat systems of India (Kumar et al. 2002). Evidence from long-term experiments shows that crop yields are stagnating and sometimes declining (Duxbury et al. 2000; Ladha et al. 2003 ). Current crop cultivation practices in rice-wheat systems degrade the soil and water resources thereby threatening the sustainability of the system (Ali and Byerlee 2000; Duxbury et al. 2000; Gupta et al. 2003; Kumar and Yadav 2001; Ladha et al. 2003). At the same time, rapid urbanization decreases the land available for agriculture. As a result, food security in the country remains a challenge for the future. If the supply of food is to keep pace with the rapidly growing demand, rice-wheat farmers will have to produce more food from fewer resources while sustaining the environmental quality. This will require rapid changes towards technologies that are more productive but less resource-degrading. Many changes and innovations have contributed to the expanding use of resource conserving technologies in the country. In this regard, one of the most important technology has been the developed and tested is low cost seed-cum-fertilizer drill which can establish crops with a minimum of soil disturbance. This seed-cum-fertilizer drill can take best advantage of residual soil moisture and thereby reduce irrigation requirements, can help in improving the timeliness of sowing, can place seed and fertilizer nutrients at suitable soil depths, and can foster the development of innovative inter-cropping systems that are particularly suitable for flood-prone and drought- prone environments. Paddy is generally transplanted in the first fortnight of July in puddled (wet tillage) soil, which leads destruction of macropores and reduction in permeability. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements (Polycarpou 2010). Traditional paddy cultivation requires 200-250 man-hours per hectare, which are about 25 percent of the total