Prior to the 2012 WS experiment, the land was dry cultivated using a twin-axle tractor with discings followed by two passes ofa tractor-mounted rotavator.
For the puddled treatments, the soil was irrigated three days before puddling (three passes) using a power tiller.
The test variety used in this study was NSIC Rc222 (IR154), a short duration (110 d) variety. DSR was sown on 17 May 2012 (2012 WS) and 2 December 2012 (2013 DS).
The rice seeds were sown at 45 kg ha−1 with a 4-wheel tractor-drawn seed drill at a row spacing of 20 cm and depths of 1–2 cm.
For all establishment methods except DSR, the seeds were soaked in water for 24 h.
The seeds were then incubated for 8-10 hours prior to sowing by a drum-seeder on puddled (WSR) and nonpuddled soil ื(NWSR), and on the seedbed for raising nursery for the trans-planted treatments.
The 17-day-old seedlings were transplanted at 20 cm × 20 cm geometry on well-puddled soil.