Direct Seeded Rice & Seed & Row Length per Area
Drills paddy
Enter your area, seed rate and row spacing to get the total rice seed to drill or broadcastand the total row length — for water- and labour-saving direct seeding instead of transplanting.
Plan your DSR sowing
Next: calibrate your seed drill to deliver 10.1 kg over 20,234 m of row at 20 cm spacing; pre-treat seed and time sowing to soil moisture.
DSR seed rate is higher than transplanting to offset establishment losses; rates vary with variety, seeding method (dry/wet) and weed pressure. Weed control is the key DSR risk.
Direct seeded rice — key facts
- Seed
- area × seed rate
- Row length
- area ÷ row spacing
- Drilled DSR rate
- ≈ 20–25 kg/ha
- Broadcast rate
- higher than drilled
- Saves
- water and labour
- No nursery
- sown straight in field
- Watch
- weeds without standing water
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Skip the nursery, save the water — sow rice straight in
Transplanted rice means a nursery, puddled flooded soil and rows of bent backs setting seedlings by hand — thirsty, slow and costly. Direct-seeded rice drills or broadcasts seed straight into the field instead, cutting water use sharply and freeing up the labour that transplanting demands. The trade-off is a higher seed rate, around 20–25 kg/ha when drilled, because field emergence is less certain than placing raised seedlings.
This tool sizes a DSR crop in seconds: the total seed to drill or broadcast, the total row length, your area and seed rate, in whatever unit you farm. Use it to buy and treat the right amount of seed, plan drill passes and weed control, and compare with transplanting. Pair it with the Paddy Transplanting, Seed Rate, Dibbling and Seed Priming tools.
Save water
No puddling or continuous flooding.
Cut labour
No nursery, no manual transplanting.
Buy the right seed
Get total seed for your area and rate.
Plan the drill
Total row length for passes and inputs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is direct seeded rice (DSR)?+
Direct seeded rice means sowing rice seed straight into the field — drilled in rows or broadcast — instead of raising seedlings in a nursery and transplanting them into puddled, flooded soil. It skips the nursery and transplanting steps, saving a great deal of water and labour while still growing a full rice crop.
How much seed does DSR need?+
Direct seeding uses a higher seed rate than transplanting because there is no nursery to establish a guaranteed stand — roughly 20–25 kg/ha for drilled DSR and more for broadcast. This tool multiplies your area by the seed rate to give the total rice seed you need to drill or broadcast.
How is the seed quantity calculated?+
Seed = area × seed rate. Enter the area in your unit (acre, hectare, bigha, guntha or m²) and the seed rate per unit, and the tool returns the total seed to buy or treat. For example 3 ha drilled at 22 kg/ha needs 66 kg of seed; broadcasting the same area at a higher rate needs more.
Why does DSR use more seed than transplanting?+
In transplanting, a small nursery raises seedlings that are then placed at known spacing, so the field stand is assured with little seed. In direct seeding, seed germinates in the field where emergence is less certain — birds, crusting, moisture and depth all take a toll — so a higher rate insures against patchy establishment.
How is the row length worked out?+
For drilled DSR sown in rows, total row length = area ÷ row spacing. The tool converts your area to square metres, divides by the spacing between rows, and gives the total metres (or kilometres) of drill rows across the field — useful for planning drill passes, seed metering and inputs banded along the row.
What are the advantages of DSR?+
DSR saves water (no continuous flooding for puddling and transplanting), cuts labour and cost (no nursery, no manual transplanting), allows earlier sowing, and can mature a little sooner. It also reduces methane emissions from flooded fields. These savings are why DSR is spreading where water and farm labour are scarce or costly.
What are the challenges of DSR?+
The main issues are weeds — without standing water to suppress them, weed control is critical — plus the risk of poor crop establishment, nutrient management differences and certain micronutrient deficiencies on some soils. Good land levelling, timely weed control and the right seed rate are key to making DSR succeed.
Drilled or broadcast DSR?+
Drilling places seed in rows at a controlled depth, giving even stands, easier weeding and lower seed use — generally the preferred method. Broadcasting scatters seed over the surface; it is quicker but uses more seed and gives uneven, harder-to-weed stands. Set the seed rate to match whichever method you choose.
Are the figures exact?+
They're solid planning figures. Actual seed depends on seed size, germination, expected field losses and your chosen method, so adjust the rate to local recommendations and your own results. Use the output to buy and treat seed with a sensible margin, then fine-tune the rate over seasons.