This year's high rainfall and flooding have seriously delayed seedbed preparation and planting of area rice fields.
Much work still needs to be done on the four to five hundred thousand acres to be planted.
Typically, fields are planted from April 20 to May 25. This situation could cause problems with crop establishment, weed and pest management and yield loss. Wet soils may contain chemically reduced compounds toxic to rice, but these compounds can be oxidized to nontoxic products with sufficient aeration. Oxygen in the soil is also important for vigorous rice seedling growth. Wet or moist soils may also favor early development of tadpole shrimp, algae and weeds.