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Details Of Innovation
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When seedlings are to be developed, paddy seeds are kept soaked in cowdung heaps for 24 hours. After that paddy seeds are washed by rain water. Then the seeds are kept in an airtight manner in a corner and covered by jute-cloth or cotton quilt/mattress. Because it is airtight, the paddy seeds sprout up to half-an- inch in two-and-a-half days. Farmers call this method "chavli". Simultaneously, it should not be forgotten that "tikha vakhda" (Salvadora persica) leaves are put in a nursery along with soil. The nursery should be filled with water. The leaves eventually decompose in the soil. Meanwhile, the airtight nature generates heat in the nursery which quickens the growth of seedlings. In another two days time, the seelings grow up to one-and-a-half inches. Now the seedlings are ready for the nursery. Before sowing the seeds in the nursery, excess water is drained out, maintaining only three-inch water. Even this water is drained out for three hours to allow for sowing the seeds. As the seedlings grow rapidly, the water level is proportionately raised in the nursery, allowing just about half an inch for the paddy leaves to stand out of water. The idea of stagnant water in the nursery is to ensure that pests of paddy have no medium in which to grow. In 18 days, transplant-worthy seedlings are ready. Most of the farmers in rural Ahmedabad use this practice for paddy planting. (This practice has been rechecked by Praveen Rohit in June 2004).
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