Seed and soil-borne are major courses, which is a deterrent in adopting direct rice production system.
Seed coating, an application to control those pathogens and improve crop growth, could be an attractive
approach. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the possibility of biological seed coating strategies on
agronomic characters, grain yield and fungicide residues of rice grain in direct-seed rice production system. The
experiment was laid out in RCB design under the field condition. Seeds were coated with various substances i.e.
captan (conventional treatment; CA), biological seed coating substances are only chitosan-lignosulphonate
polymer (CL) and eugenol incorporated into chitosan-lignosulphonate polymer (E+CL). Untreated seeds were
used as control (CO). The results of growing in seasons 2006 and 2007 indicated that CL and E+CL coating
substances improved seed germination, and seedling establishment. Moreover, those substances improved plant
growth, and kernel yield. CA and E+CL could control seedling and grain infection. However, CA treatment led to
residues of organochloride-fungicide in both soil and rice grain, which is seriously affecting to consumers health.
Thus, the results concluded that the application of biological seed coating substances as CL and E+CL polymers
may be a promising strategy to improve the biological rice production.
Keywords: Seed coating technology, rice seed, rice production, biological control