Aerobic Rice: Implications and Prospects

Rice botanically known as Oryza sativa L. belongs to the family poaceae. It is the staple food of a large number of Asian countries and occupies 1/5^th of total cultivable land area in the world.  It is one of the most important food crops in the world and attributes to a significant proportion of contribution to the world food basket. However, the crop being input-intensive requires huge amounts of water which has become a problem in today’s world of decreasing water and land availability. Hence adoption and utilization of newer cultivation systems so as to increase yield, maintain crop productivity and sustainability has become the prime requirement in today’s agricultural scenario. In this context, the present article focuses on package and practices involved in adopting aerobic rice cultivation systems to ameliorate crop productions, its advantages, cultivar development specifications, constraints encountered and strategies employed to improve rice production under aerobic system for crop improvement.