Why Change Transplanting Practices?
With usual transplanting practices, older seedlings are removed from a nursery that has been flooded so the seedlings have start in a soil environment that lacks oxygen. Little care is taken to protect their roots, and once seedlings are removed, they often lie in the open for hours or even days before being transplanted into the field, with desiccated roots that have dried out. Seedlings are pushed down into flooded soil having little oxygen, with their root tips inverted upward from being are plunged into the soil. These practices cause what is called transplant shock, a well-known effect that causes plants to languish for 7-10 days, or even longer, before growth resumes, and the plants can become yellowish for lack of nitrogen. Growing seedlings in well-oxygenated nursery soil enhances performance (Mishra and Salokhe, 2008). SRI seedlings are carefully removed from their nursery, keeping soil and seed sacs attached to their roots. They are transplanted quickly and gently, and roots
