American Journal of Environmental Protection

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Saline Prone Rice Ecosystem of Kerala, India

Received: 17 February 2013    Accepted:     Published: 02 April 2013
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Abstract

A complex and ecologically responsive rice-fish farming system has evolved in the coastal wetland regions of India over centuries. Kaipad is a unique coastal wetland rice production tract which is saline prone and naturally organic production tract of North Kerala, India which was not much known to the scientific world. The rice produce from this par-ticular ecosystem is purely organic. Apart from integrated organic farming system in which rice cultivation and aquaculture go together, Kaipad ecosystem is featured with rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, organically rich soil, mangroves, and migratory birds. The Pokkali tract of south Kerala is said to be synonymous to Kaipad tract of North Kerala. But soils of Kaipad slightly differ from that of Pokkali. Rice farming in Kaipad is carried out in a peculiar way, purely in a natural way relying on the monsoon and the sea tides. Besides its own saline tolerant land races of rice, recently high yielding rice va-rieties were developed for Kaipad tract by Kerala Agricultural University utilizing the traditional land races. Even though the product from Kaipad is purely organic ,nothing much has been done to explore the value of organic rice for the benefit of farmers. Besides research accomplishment, a comprehensive multi faced development approach is necessary to preserve, protect and develop this unique organic rice bowl of Kerala, governed by small and marginal farmers.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12
Published in American Journal of Environmental Protection (Volume 2, Issue 2, April 2013)
Page(s) 42-46
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Coastal Wetlands, Kaipad, Pokkali, Rice- Fish Farming, Organic Rice

References
[1] Kokkal, K., Harinarayanan, P. and Sabu, K.K. 2008. Wet-lands of Kerala. In Proceedings of Taal 2007: The 12th world lake conference. Edited by Sengupta, M.and Dalwani, and R.1889-1893.
[2] Nair, A.S.K., Sankar, G. and Mathew, K.J.2001. Estimates of wetlands in Kerala using IRS data.Pro.13th Kerala Science congress, KSCSTE, Govt. of Kerala, pp 60 -61.
[3] Wetlands of Kerala. State of the environment report 2007. Vol.1
[4] Nair, K.N., Menon, V. and Mahesh, R. 2002. The lure of prawn culture and the waning culture of rice –fish farming: A case study from north Kerala wetlands. Discussion paper, published by Kerala Research programme on Local Level Development Centre for Development Studies. Thiruvanan-thapuram.
[5] Swarajyalakshmi, G., Gurumurthy, P. and Subbaiah, G.V. 2003. Soil salinity in South India: Problems and solutions. In Crop production in saline environments. pp. 247-275.
[6] Samikutty, V. 1977. Investigations on the salinity problems of Pokkali and Kaipad areas of Kerala. Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur.
[7] Bhaskaran, U.P. and Vargheese, T. 2006.Characterization of acidity and its management in wetland ecosystem of trop-ics.In: 18th world world congress of soil science, July9-15, 2006- Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, USA.
[8] Vanaja, T. and Mammootty, K.P. 2010. ‘Kuthiru’ and ‘Or-kayama’ – Newly Identified Genetic Resources from Kerala, India for Salinity Tolerance in Indica Rice. Online publication in Nature proceedings.
[9] Vanaja, T., Neema, V.P., Mammootty, K.P., Rajeshkumar, R., Balakrishnan,
[10] P.C., Jayaprakash Naik and Raji, P.2009. Development of first non-lodging and high yielding rice cultures for saline Kaipad paddy tracts of Kerala, India. Current Science. 96(8): 1024-1028.
[11] Nambiar, G.R. and Raveendran, K.2009.Exploration of untapped potentiality of coastal paddy fields of Kerala(India)-A case study. Middle -East Journal of Scientific Research4 (1):44-47.
Author Information
  • Department of Plant breeding & Genetics, College of Agriculture, Padannakkad; Kerala Agricultural University, P.O.Nileswaram, Kasaragode (Dist), Kerala, India

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    T. Vanaja. (2013). Saline Prone Rice Ecosystem of Kerala, India. American Journal of Environmental Protection, 2(2), 42-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12

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    T. Vanaja. Saline Prone Rice Ecosystem of Kerala, India. Am. J. Environ. Prot. 2013, 2(2), 42-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12

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    T. Vanaja. Saline Prone Rice Ecosystem of Kerala, India. Am J Environ Prot. 2013;2(2):42-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12,
      author = {T. Vanaja},
      title = {Saline Prone Rice Ecosystem of Kerala, India},
      journal = {American Journal of Environmental Protection},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {42-46},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20130202.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajep.20130202.12},
      abstract = {A complex and ecologically responsive rice-fish farming system has evolved in the coastal wetland regions of India over centuries. Kaipad is a unique coastal wetland rice production tract which is saline prone and naturally organic production tract of North Kerala, India which was not much known to the scientific world. The rice produce from this par-ticular ecosystem is purely organic. Apart from integrated organic farming system in which rice cultivation and aquaculture go together, Kaipad ecosystem is featured with rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, organically rich soil, mangroves, and migratory birds. The Pokkali tract of south Kerala is said to be synonymous to Kaipad tract of North Kerala. But soils of Kaipad slightly differ from that of Pokkali. Rice farming in Kaipad is carried out in a peculiar way, purely in a natural way relying on the monsoon and the sea tides. Besides its own saline tolerant land races of rice, recently high yielding rice va-rieties were developed for Kaipad tract by Kerala Agricultural University utilizing the traditional land races. Even though the product from Kaipad is purely organic ,nothing much has been done to explore the value of organic rice for the benefit of farmers. Besides research accomplishment, a comprehensive multi faced development approach is necessary to preserve, protect and develop this unique organic rice bowl of Kerala, governed by small and marginal farmers.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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