Growing rice
Oryza sativaPaddy is usually raised in a nursery and transplanted into puddled, flooded fields, though it can also be sown direct. Most regions grow it in the monsoon; some take a second or third crop.
North-east hills and valleys: Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Darjeeling
At a glance
Rice in the North-east hills and valleys
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
- Sow
- Nursery
- Transplant
- Harvest
- Today
- Not suited here
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See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North-east hills and valleys | March to AprilJune to July | April to MayJuly to AugustSeptember (late sali, 4 to 6 seedlings a hill) | ||
| Temperate Himalaya | Last week of April (Kashmir valley)Late March to late April (temperate Jammu, higher areas earlier) | Last week of May (lower belts) to mid-June (higher belts); finish by 21 June | Late September to October, later in the higher belts | |
| Cold desert | Not suited here | |||
| Sub-tropical foothills | With the first monsoon shower (direct-sown rainfed rice) | Early May to the third week of June, by variety | Mid-June to 21 July (late dates only when the monsoon fails) | Early October (PC-19 in the recommended rice-marigold-French bean sequence) |
| North-west plains | 1 to 15 June (direct-seeded rice) | 20 May to 20 June | 20 June to 10 July | |
| Gangetic plains | Late May to late July, by variety duration (Bihar)November to December | July to early August, with 3 to 4 week seedlingsAfter mid-January, once it is warmer than 10°C | By mid-November (long-duration varieties)May to June | |
| Arid west | Not suited here | |||
| Central plateau | Late June to early July (direct-sown, with the first good rain) | Mid-June to early July, with the monsoon | July to early August | Late October to November |
| Deccan plateau | June to JulyLate November to December | July to AugustJanuary to early February | Late October to NovemberLate April to May | |
| South interior | December to JanuaryApril to JuneSeptember to October | |||
| West coast | April to MaySeptember to OctoberDecember to January | September to OctoberDecember to JanuaryMarch to April | ||
| East coast | June to JulyAugustSeptember to OctoberDecember to JanuaryApril to May | |||
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Before sowing
Nursery bed
Cow dung or compost
20 to 30 kg per bed (10 m x 1.25 m)
Mix into the puddled bed
Field preparation
Well-rotted FYM or compost
10 t per hectare
Apply while preparing the field
After transplanting
Fresh azolla
500 kg per hectare
Spread on standing water of 5 to 10 cm; let it cover the surface for 2 to 3 weeks, then work it in or let it rot
Field preparation (alternative)
Fresh azolla grown in a pond or ditch
6 t per hectare
Work in at land preparation
Day 0
Sow
Before sowing
Cow dung or compost
20 to 30 kg per bed (10 m x 1.25 m) · Mix into the puddled bed · Nursery bed
Well-rotted FYM or compost
10 t per hectare · Apply while preparing the field · Field preparation
Fresh azolla
500 kg per hectare · Spread on standing water of 5 to 10 cm; let it cover the surface for 2 to 3 weeks, then work it in or let it rot · After transplanting
Day 0
Sow
Day 1 to 2
Day 18 to 40
Day 90 to 165
On medium and heavy soils give 5 cm of water 3 days after the ponded water disappears. For rainfed kharif rice keep bunds about 30 cm high to hold rain.8,9
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH4,7,12
5 to 9
Clay to clay loam soils that turn to soft mud when puddled and hold water well; loams also suit. Soils that drain fast waste water.
Sunlight4
At least 6 hours a day
Full sun. Punjab's guide links high yields to about 6 to 11 hours of bright sunshine a day, depending on crop stage.
Temperature4,7,12
Grows best at 20 to 34 °C
Monthly temperatures for the North-east hills and valleys aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nursery bed | Cow dung or compost | 20 to 30 kg per bed (10 m x 1.25 m) | Mix into the puddled bed |
| Field preparation | Well-rotted FYM or compost | 10 t per hectare | Apply while preparing the field |
| After transplanting | Fresh azolla | 500 kg per hectare | Spread on standing water of 5 to 10 cm; let it cover the surface for 2 to 3 weeks, then work it in or let it rot |
| Field preparation (alternative) | Fresh azolla grown in a pond or ditch | 6 t per hectare | Work in at land preparation |
Varieties and yield
30 to 50 quintals a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
Ranjit, Bahadur, Kushal, Moniram, Piolee
Transplanted sali, 150 to 155 days
Keteki Joha
Scented sali, 155 to 165 days
Mahsuri
Tall sali, 140 to 145 days
Prafulla, Gitesh
Sali with aged seedlings in flood-prone areas
Luit, Dishang, Chilarai, Lachit
Ahu, 90 to 130 days
Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the North-east hills and valleys, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Organic and cultural controls only.
General insect pests
What to do
- Put up about 50 T-shaped bird perches a hectare, 60 cm above the crop, and take them down before flowering
Rice hispa
What to do
- Destroy alternate host grasses
- Plough deep between February and April
- Avoid staggered planting
- Clip leaf tips before planting
- Grow moderately resistant varieties
- Spray 1% neem seed oil with a sticker
Root-knot nematode
What to do
- Apply Pseudomonas fluorescens at 20 g per m² of nursery at sowing
Blast
Signs
Spindle-shaped spots with grey centres and brown edges on the leaves; in bad attacks the neck of the panicle rots and breaks over.
Prevention
- Sow clean seed from a healthy crop
- Do not overdo nitrogen-rich manures
- Grow varieties your local KVK lists as tolerant
Bacterial leaf blight
Signs
Yellow stripes from the leaf tips and edges that dry to straw colour, often after storms or floods.
What to do
- Drain the field for a few days when it appears
Prevention
- Do not let water run from one field to the next
Sheath blight
Signs
Grey-green oval patches on the leaf sheaths near the water line that spread upwards.
Prevention
- Keep spacing wide enough for air to move
- Keep bunds free of grass
- Compost or plough in stubble from an affected crop
Brown spot
Signs
Small oval brown spots on leaves and grains, worst on poor or starved soils.
Prevention
- Build the soil with compost or FYM
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed1,4
Pick a good patch of the standing crop and rogue out off-types and sick plants. Harvest and thresh it separately.
Dry the grain well, to about 12 per cent moisture, and keep it in clean bins.
After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the North-east hills and valleys, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
After sali rice, fields often take toria or mustard, potato, lentil, pea or winter vegetables on the moisture left in the soil. Leave the straw as mulch or compost it.
Mixing or keeping rice straw in the field builds soil health over the years. Jammu's guide chops straw into pieces of about 5 cm and ploughs it in about 10 days before the next crop.
Rotation
Common rotations in the north: rice followed by wheat, berseem, gram, potato, peas, mustard or barley, often with summer moong or a green manure crop before the next rice.
Sources
Where this comes from
Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.
These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.
- Paddy: crop production guide (Agro Advisory Services)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Rice: seasons and varietiesTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Transplanted puddled lowland rice: wet nurseryTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Package of Practices for Kharif Crops 2016: Rice; Rice cultivation in temperate and semi-temperate regionsDirectorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
- Package of Practices for Kharif Crops of Assam 2021: transplanted normal ahu riceAssam Agricultural University (hosted by KVK Chirang)Read the source
- Package of Practices for Kharif Crops of Assam 2021: sali rice (winter rice)Assam Agricultural University (hosted by KVK Chirang)Read the source
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