Wet Cultivation Research Articles

Traditional Ecological Farming Practices in the Eastern Himalayan Mountain Environment: Case of a Naga Village, Nagaland (India)

The farming systems practised by the tribal communities in the mountain environment of the North-Eastern region of India are eco-friendly and local climate responsive. These play a significant role in ensuring food security and conserving the local agro-ecological diversity. These farming practices are rooted in the local ecological set up, and they reflect the Indigenous people’s response to the environment of the area. The inhabitants of the Khonoma village of Kohima district, Nagaland, the study village, have been traditionally practising unique Alder tree-based jhum (shifting) cultivation, terrace-based panikheti (wet cultivation) and kitchen gardening based on their Indigenous knowledge and skills. They have been practising mixed farming by integrating crops, fish and livestock. The local communities have also evolved some methods for managing the natural settings to sustain their agriculture and livelihoods. This study is an attempt to investigate the methods of traditional farming system of Khonoma, a mountain village in the Eastern Himalayas. This study is based on primary data/ information collected through household survey using semi-structured household survey schedule, participatory rural appraisal (PRA), focus group discussion (FGD), and interviews with key informants and personal field visit in early 2021. The terrace-based panikheti, adopted by the people of Khonoma village, has been proved a location specific eco-friendly method for soil and water conservation. The Alder tree-based jhum practice, as opined by the villagers, is a sustainable livelihood option in the context of the mountain ecological setting and unique cultural values of the people.

Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice grown on organic soils in the temperate zone

Organic soils are important carbon stocks. The conventional (dry) cultivation of these soils turns them into strong sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For situations where restoration of natural land cover is not possible, solutions to this problem include the wet cultivation of these soils, reducing CO2 and N2O emissions. One option, paddy rice cultivation, has begun in the Swiss Central Plateau, which hitherto did not provide a suitable climate for wet rice. Wet rice is however associated with high CH4 emissions. These need to be quantified for this region, as the increased CH4 fluxes might negate the expected reductions in CO2 and N2O. Here, we quantify CH4 and N2O emissions from wet rice on organic soil with chamber measurements, in an outdoor mesocosm experiment in the Swiss Central Plateau, located in the cool temperate moist zone. We apply two water treatments (a high water table (WT) treatment, − 6 cm with mid-season drainage, and two medium WT treatments, − 11 and − 17 cm without mid-season drainage) and additionally test the use of a mineral cover layer to reduce N2O emissions. Additionally, a deeply-drained grassland treatment is used as a reference treatment. Annual CH4 emissions from rice cultivation are 6.2 g CH4.m-2.a-1 for the higher WT treatment, 6.4 g CH4.m-2.a-1 for the medium WT treatment and 2.4 g CH4.m-2.a-1 for the medium WT treatment with mineral cover. The corresponding N2O emissions are 203, 190 and 56 mg N2O-N.m-2.a-1, respectively. These results show that adding a mineral cover layer reduces annual emissions from both GHGs substantially. In total, the maximum increase in CH4 and N2O emissions resulting from rice cultivation, compared to the drained grassland treatment, is 2.3 t CO2-eq.ha-1.a-1. Expected CO2 emissions savings (derived from a literature-based model) due to a higher WT are a factor of 5–9 greater than this. We thus conclude that the cultivation of these organic soils in this region with wet rice could reduce their induced warming compared to their cultivation with (deeply drained) grassland.

A study on the knowledge level and extent of adoption of dry converted wet rice in Khammam district of Telangana

The present study was undertaken in Khammam District of Telangana having large area under rice cultivation. In Khammam district almost 7000 acres of area is under dry converted wet rice. Krishi Vigyan Kendra , Wyra has put tremendous efforts to disseminate the dry converted Wet technology to farmers. Thus the sequel is evident that in Khammam district that approximately 5000 farmers are following Dry Converted Wet Cultivation in rice. It was felt important to assess the knowledge level of practicing farmers in order to identify the gaps in adoption .From Six villages 20 farmers were selected for the study . The data was collected by random sampling technique. Total of 120 respondents were selected for the study. The data was collected by personal interview. Based on the finding of the study majority of the respondents were having medium level of knowledge, followed by high level and low level of knowledge. While in case of adoption, that majority of the respondents had medium adoption, followed by high and low of adoption.

Market‐based commons: Social agroforestry, fire mitigation strategies, and green supply chains in Indonesia’s peatlands

AbstractThis paper develops the transboundary concept of market‐based commons to explore how partial and incomplete privatisation measures are contributing to the creation, operation, and maintenance of common property in agrarian societies embedded in global economies. Focusing on Indonesia’s Riau province, I show how transboundary publics and geographically dispersed users of peatland resources collectively engage in environmental stewardship around sustainable forms of peatland development and activities aimed at mitigating the socio‐ecological costs of growth. The paper explores three types of peatland commons centred on social agroforestry using paludiculture (wet cultivation) techniques, fire mitigation strategies, and green supply chains around sustainable peatland products. I argue that while these market‐based commons are still in their infancy, they inscribe a specific set of transboundary governance relationships that seek to reform rather than resist capitalism by promoting both the protective and productive functions of carbon‐rich peatlands as profitable environmental goods of public value.

Dry or Wet? Evaluating the Initial Rice Cultivation Environment on the Korean Peninsula

The origins and development of rice cultivation are one of the most important aspects in studying agricultural and socio-economic innovations, as well as environmental change, in East Asian prehistory. In particular, whether wet or dry rice cultivation was conducted is an important consideration of its impact on societies and the environment across different periods and places. In this study, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of charred crop remains from archaeological sites dating from the Early Bronze Age (ca. 1.1 k BC) to the Proto-Three Kingdoms (ca. 0.4 k AD) was conducted to clarify: (1) if there were any shifts from dry to wet cultivation around 1500 years after rice adoption as previously hypothesized and (2) the difference in stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values between rice and dry fields crops excavated from the same archaeological context to understand the cultivation environment. The result show that stable isotope values of charred rice grains have not changed significantly for around 1500 years. Moreover, rice possessed higher nitrogen stable isotope values than dry crops across all periods. While other potential factors could have influenced the 15N-enrichment of soils and crops, the most reasonable explanation is bacteriologic denitrification in anaerobic paddy soil where the rice was grown.

Operation-Wise Labour Absorption in Jhum cultivation, WRC and WTC Under Mokokchung, Dimapur and Phek Districts, Nagaland

The paper made an attempt to examine the operation-wise labour absorption and also estimated the factors that determine the variations and the intensity of labour used per acre in three rice farming systems, namely jhum cultivation, wet rice cultivation (WRC) and wet terrace cultivation (WTC). Study revealed that all the three farming systems use more labour and less capital. Jhum absorbs the highest labour man days, among the three farming systems. Male labour absorption was found to be more than that of the female labour in all the farming systems, and both male and female labour absorption was highest under jhum cultivation. Land clearing was the activity that absorbed the highest male labour under jhum cultivation, with an average of 8.49 labour man days, while ploughing, levelling/manuring absorbed the highest male labour under WTC/WRC, with an average of 9.88 and 9.36 labour man days. On the other hand, the highest female labour absorption activity was weeding, with an average of 5.10 (jhum), 4.99 (WRC) and 4.6 (WTC) man days. The participation of family labour was found to be more under jhum cultivation, whereas use of hired labour was more under wet rice cultivation. Regression result shows that hired labour man days and total labour man days per acre in all the farming systems are negatively associated, with a significant level of 1 and 5 per cent each. Since rice cultivation is seasonal in nature, rainfall and timing is an important determinant of yield and the use of inputs like labour may depend not only on total amount used but also on timing of application.

Socio demographic profile of respondents in Gajapati district: A study

This paper discussed Socio Demographic Profile of Respondents in Gajapati district. Gajapati district is tribal dominated district of Odisha i.e., 53 percent population of the state average. The Saoras is a vulnerable primitive group in Gajapati district as well as Odisha. The Saoras are plains depend on their wet cultivation, wage earning and selling firewood for their survivable and The Saoras are also depend Hill or forest. The Hill Saoras are practice shifting cultivation, mixed farming cultivation; terraced cultivation on the hill slopes and collection firewood is the main occupation of the Sabara or Saura women which provides them minimum sustenance throughout the year. Both men and women are collect firewood but the collection of Mahua flowers is done exclusively by women and children. Keyword: Saora tribal, Agriculture, Sex Ratio, Literacy.

Progress of paludiculture projects in supporting peatland ecosystem restoration in Indonesia

Sustainable peatland management practices such as paludiculture are crucial for restoring degraded peatland ecosystems. Paludiculture involves wet cultivation practices in peatland and can maintain peat bodies and sustaining ecosystem services. However, information about paludiculture effects on tropical peatlands is limited in the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the effectiveness and progress of paludiculture projects in supporting peatland ecosystem restoration in Indonesia that uses approaches of soil rewetting, revegetation of peat soil/forest, and the revitalisation of rural livelihoods around peatlands. We obtained qualitative and quantitative data from field measurements, observations, document reviews, spatial data from open-source web applications, and interviews with key stakeholders in two projects (agri-silviculture and agro-sylvofishery) that adapt paludiculture principles to Indonesia’s South Sumatra Province. We found that the limited use of paludiculture principles in both projects has a different contribution to peatland restoration. The agri-silviculture project has been utilising jelutung (Dyera polyphylla), ramin (Gonystylus bancanus), and balangeran (Shorea balangeran) for (forest) revegetation. These species are 3 of the 534 paludiculture species that are adaptive to peat soils and tolerant to acidic conditions and inundation. The revegetation resulted in effective results that supported peatland restoration despite the delayed application of rewetting activities in the initial phase of the project. Additionally, in the agro-sylvofishery project, trade-offs between soil rewetting to maintain high peat water tables and the need to provide short-term economic benefits for local communities through horticulture and fishery practices were noted. During the 2019 El Niño, the involvement of a closed-loop canal to support fishery practices appeared to contribute to affecting the water table, which was also influenced by the open canals dug in nearby palm oil plantations.

Microwave-assisted three-liquid-phase salting-out extraction of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich oil from cultivation broths of Schizochytrium limacinium SR21

The extraction and separation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich oils, proteins, and polysaccharides from microalgae is a challenge for industrial commercialization of DHA, such as drying and dewatering, cell wall disruption, laborious conventional extraction procedures and exploitation of large volumes of solvents. To address these concerns, a novel microwave-assisted three-liquid-phase salting-out extraction (MA-TLPSOE) was used to separate DHA-rich oils, proteins, and polysaccharides from wet cultivation broths of Schizochytrium limacinum SR21. The optimized MA-TLPSOE system was composed of 30% (w/w) n-hexane/13% (w/w) ethanol/9% (w/w) sodium carbonate and treated at high microwave power (650W) for 30s. Under optimized conditions, 100±0.59% oil and 100±0.64% DHA were partitioned in the top n-hexane phase while 93.75±0.25% of polysaccharides and 92.96±0.43% of proteins were distributed in the solid-phase interface. The effects of microwave power and duration, sodium carbonate, n-hexane, ethanol concentration and extraction time were studied. When the optimized system was enlarged from 20g to 60g, the yields of all effective components were almost the same. Thus, the MA-TLPSOE system is a promising and attractive technology, which could be used for the separation and extraction of various effective ingredients from complex natural products in a single step with significant recovery yield.

Water productivity for Egyptian clover as affected by different irrigation regimes and cultivation methods in the North Middle Nile Delta Region

A FIELD experiment was conducted in the two successive winter seasons ( 2016-17 and 2017-18) to investigate the impact of cultivation method; dry cultivation ( dry seed on dry soil) and traditional one (wet seed on wet soil) and irrigation regime; five different irrigation regimes as follows, irrigation till 5 cm above soil surface, (traditional, I1), using soil moisture depletion (I2), irrigation with 0.8 from pan evaporation (I3), irrigation with Hargreaves equation, 1981 (I4) and irrigation till 2.5 cm above soil surface (I5).The obtained results showed that decreasing amount of irrigation water from traditional method (I1) to 2.5 cm above soil surface (I5) reduced fresh yield by 5.49 and 6.75 ton fed.-1 with water saving ≈14.5% (≈ 336.0 m3fed.-1,) for dry seeds cultivation method, and the corresponding values 4.87 and 7.34 ton fed.-1 with water saving 10.75% (≈ 280.0 m3fed.-1,) for wet cultivation one in the overall seasons. Meaningfully, an average of ≈ 700-840 million m3 water could be saved at the national level (≈2.5 million fed.). Moreover, mean reduction in dry yield by 24.62 kg fed.-1, (6.35 %) and 13.00 kg fed-1 (3.51 %) could be resulted from dry cultivation method, and by 36.45 kg fed-1 (8.68 %) and 10.91 kg fed-1 (2.60 %) could be resulted from wet cultivation method in the first and second seasons respectively.The highest overall mean values of water consumptive use (CU) and consumptive use efficiency (Ecu, %) were recorded irrigation without any stress during the growing season (I1). Productivity of irrigation water (PIW kgm-3) and water productivity (WP kgm-3) for fresh yield was the highest values recorded under I5 (the lowest water consumed) for dry and wet cultivation methods.

Effect of Biochar Application on Soil Carbon Fluxes from Sequential Dry and Wet Cultivation Systems

Application of biochar has been highly credited for its potential to sequester carbon and GHG mitigation from tropical agro-ecosystems. However, experiments show inconsistent results depending on soil and biochar type, cultivation system, climatic condition and the type of evolved GHGs. This study emphasized on the effect of biochar on carbon emission trends from a sequential dry and wet cultivation system of Bangladesh. An incubation study was conducted with two contrasting soils and eight different treatments viz. control, only fertilizer, three different biochars (10 t·ha-1) with and without recommended fertilizer dose. Results revealed the fact that, emission of carbon was substantially higher from Sara soil than Kalma soil. Biochar treatments did not have any easing effect on CO2 emission at field condition; rather, increased in most of the cases. However, emission was significantly (P 2. Biochar application was ineffective to control CH4 and CO release to atmosphere and submergence further intensified their emission significantly. The overall results indicate that applied biochars have negligible effect on carbon emission except for reducing CO2 from submerged soils.

Dry cultivation enhances cadmium solubility in contaminated soils but minimizes cadmium accumulation in a leafy vegetable

Water management has a strong influence on Cd solubility in agricultural soils, affecting Cd uptake in crops. In the process, sulfur interaction with other metals such as zinc may play an important role. A pot experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of water management coupled with zinc and sulfate amendment on Cd uptake by the leafy vegetable amaranth with a strong Cd accumulation tendency in its edible parts. The soils were amended with Cd, Cd+SO4 and Cd+SO4+Zn with no amendment as control. Then, the soils were flooded for 1 month, after which amaranth was grown with soil kept saturated (wet cultivation). In the succeeding planting, soils were tilled to aeration condition under which amaranth was grown again (dry cultivation). Soil and crop samples were collected and analysed for various parameters. The readily exchangeable quantities of Cd and Zn in the soil decreased under wet cultivation, increasing again under dry cultivation but to levels lower than those in the initial soil. Wet cultivation enhanced plant Cd concentration but reduced Zn accumulation compared to dry cultivation. Zn bioavailability was strongly affected by soil water status but failed to reduce Cd uptake by amaranth. Irreversible or slowly reversible changes occurred in Cd and Zn solubility and phytoavailability as soil water-saturated status was altered by periodic flooding events. Dry cultivation with lower soil water content ensured high production with low Cd in the edible part of this leaf vegetable and so remains the recommended irrigation regime.

Evaluation of Hydrogeomorphological Landforms and Lineaments using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques in Ramannapet Mandal, Musi River basin, Nalgonda District, Telangana

The IRS -P6 LISS-IV satellite data is used to demarcate Hydrogeomorphology land forms and lineaments on 1;10000 scale to evaluate groundwater potential of the study area. The Ramannapet Mandal area of Musi river basin is occupied mostly by hard rock they are granites and gneisses of Archaean age with intrusive bodies of dolerites, and of the portion of the study area is covered mainly by both wet and dry cultivation. The major geomorphic unit identified in the area are, Denudational hills, Residual hills, Inselbergs, Dykes, Pediment inselberg complex, Pediment, Pediplain and valleys. Most part of the study area is occupied by Pediplain with various thickness and the groundwater potential is directly related to thickness of Pediplain. The object of the study is Remote Sensing imagery with its synoptic coverage acts as a tool for finding suitable solution when combined with conventional data. Hydro-geomorphic maps were prepared by integrating the Lithology, landforms, and structural fabric and hydrology layers and drainage layers using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques, the scale range of 1: 10,000. The lineament density map was generated in GIS software using Kriging method (Sabins, F. F., (1997). Outcomes of the study Based on visual interpretation and field investigations the different types of hydro geomorphic units observed in the study area. The recent alluvium deposits are present along the stream courses. Field observations shows that groundwater occurs under unconfined conditions with water table shallow to deep depth. from the lineament density and lineament intersection maps prepared to understand the impact on groundwater percolation. Finally, Hydrogeomorphology and lineament maps area overlaid following the weighted index overlay method, which delineate groundwater potential zones. an integrated Remote sensing and GIS based approach has been used for demarcating groundwater potential zones in the study area. The study area Ramannapet Mandal is in northern part of the district of Nalgonda, Telangana State, India. The study area people occupation is agricultural, and poultry, 80 percent of the people depending only agricultural activity

Geomorphologic study of the eastern part of Son-valley with reference to land use

Geological and geomorphologic studies especially terrain evaluation of the eastern part of Son-valley, District Sonbhadra, U.P., reveals the areas suitable for pastures, forestry, wet and dry cultivation. It can help in the development of sectors like agriculture and industry apart from mining. The utilization of natural resources of the area taking into account the potential and constraints specific to the environment can be properly managed by land use planning.

Water-related environments: a multistep procedure to assess the diversity and enzymatic properties of cultivable bacteria.

Studying the culturable portion of environmental bacterial populations is valuable for understanding the ecology, for discovering taxonomically interesting isolates and for exploiting their enzymatic abilities. In this study, diverse water-related samples, iced water (3°C) from river, the sediment (29°C) and water (55°C) of a hot-spring, were investigated by two cultivation strategies, Dry and novel Wet approach. The isolates were clustered by fluorescent internal transcribed spacer PCR and identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. Several bacterial groups were also sub-typed through the application of Random Amplified Microsatellite Polymorphisms method. A broad enzymatic screening of all bacterial isolates was performed in order to assess the proteolytic, cellulolytic, lipolytic, esterolytic, amylolytic properties, as well as catalase and peroxidase activities. The Wet cultivation demonstrated to be suitable for the isolation of potential new species belonging to genera Massilia, Algoriphagus, Rheinheimera and Pandoraea. Valuable microbial resources with extensive enzymatic activities were recognized among the psychrophilic (Pantoea brenneri and Serratia sp.), mesophilic (Pandoraea, Massilia, Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, Bacillus and Aeromonas) and thermophilic bacteria (Aeribacullus pallidus and Geobacillus kaustophilus). The experimental strategy developed in this study includes simple investigation tools able to reveal the genetic and enzymatic peculiarities of isolated microorganisms. It can be applied to different kinds of aquatic samples and extreme environments similar to those described in this study.

Anthropogenic soils: general aspects and features

In recent decades man's role in soil formation has become a matter of great concern among soil scientists. Man is now considered a soil-forming factor and anthrosolization is recognised as a soil-forming process that consists of a collection of geomorphic and pedological processes resulting from human activities. These human activities include deep working, intensive fertilization, the addition of extraneous materials, irrigation with sediment-rich waters and wet cultivation. In this paper we review the influence of man as a soil forming factor stressing also some peculiar aspects linked to their classification.

Risk factors associated with rural and urban epidemics of leptospirosis in Tiruchirappalli District of Tamilnadu, India

The study sought to determine the risk factors involved in Leptospira infection in rural settings and the relative severity of the disease in comparison with the urban environment in Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, India. During an upsurge of leptospirosis, 621 suspected blood samples were obtained from patients and screened by MAT and IgM ELISA. To set up an age-matched case control study, 1,230 seronegative control samples were also included in the study. The case-control analysis was carried out using unconditional logistic regression and all P-values were two-sided. From 621 suspected cases, 214 (74 %) from rural and 196 (59 %) from urban settings had a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of leptospirosis. The highest antibody titres were identified against Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola both in rural (35 %) and urban (38 %) settings. Increased infection risk was observed for cases in the age group of 20–40 years and 10–40 years in rural and urban settings respectively. In rural settings, the risk of leptospiral infection was found to be significantly (P < 0.0001) associated with people having cattle at their house and those involved in wet cultivation. Among urban cases, building workers and people living in house dwelling near water bodies were significantly (P < 0.0001) associated with leptospiral infection. The findings of the present study identified ideal niches for the transmission of leptospires in the rural and urban settings. Identification and understanding the potential risk factors in different environments would help to identify the source of contamination. This also identifies the need for more public health assistance.

Archaeobotanical implications of phytolith assemblages from cultivated rice systems, wild rice stands and macro-regional patterns

Rice can be cultivated in a range of arable systems, including upland rainfed, lowland rainfed or irrigated, flooded or décrue, and deep water cultivation. These agricultural regimes represent ecosystems controlled to large degree by agricultural practices, and can be shown to produce different weed flora assemblages. In order to reconstruct early rice cultivation systems it is necessary to better establish how ancient rice farming practices may be seen using archaeobotanical data. This paper focuses on using modern analogue phytolith assemblages of associated crop weeds found within cultivation regimes, as well as in wild rice stands (unplanted stands of Oryza nivara or Oryza rufipogon), as a means of interpreting archaeobotanical assemblages. Rice weeds and sediment samples have been recorded and collected from a range of arable systems and wild stands in India. The husks, leaves and culms of associated weeds were processed for phytolith reference samples, and sediment samples were processed for phytoliths in order to establish patterns identifiable to specific systems. The preliminary results of the phytolith analysis of samples from these modern fields demonstrate that phytolith assemblage statistics show correlation with variation in rice cultivation systems on the basis of differences in environmental conditions and regimes, with wetness being one major factor. Analysis of phytoliths from archaeological samples from contrasting systems in Neolithic China and India demonstrate how this method can be applied to separate archaeological regions and periods based on inferred differences in past agricultural practices, identifying wet cultivation systems in China, dry millet-dominated agriculture of north China and rainfed/dry rice in Neolithic India.

EVALUATING THE RELIABILITY OF ELISA TO DETECT THE ANTIBODY AGAINST T. VAGINALIS, AND THE PREVALENCE OF T.VAGINALIS INFECTION IN HUE CITY

Objective:The protist Trichomonas vaginalis is the most common non-viral, curable, sexually transmitted disease agent worldwide. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of trichomoniasis patients in Hue City, Vietnam and its serological patterns. Materials and methods: The study included 249 symptomatic women, 534 asymptomatic women, 38 healthy men, and 50 sera of children 2-10 years of age from Hue City, Vietnam from September 2010 to June 2012. In addition, specific anti - T. vaginalis antibody response was studied in a group of 46 women affected by trichomoniasis and 8 male sexual partners. All women were subjected to standard clinical examination and vaginal samples were collected for identification of Trichomonas vaginalis by wet mount and cultivation in specific media. Sera from trichomoniasis patients were used to set up immunoenzymatic techniques to detect specific antibody response for seroepidemiological studies. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA assay were 93.48%, 84.88% respectively. The prevalence of trichomoniasis diagnosed by microscopic examination in symptomatic women and asymptomatic groups were 19.3% (42/243, 95% CI = 12.8% - 22.7%) and 0.7% (4/534, 95% CI = 0.18% - 1.8%), respectively. The seroprevalence from general population were found 18.9% in women and 8.7% in men. The seroprevalence were 31.3% in symptomatic women, 13.3% in asymptomatic women. The seroprevalence was 14% in safe sex behavior women to compare with 22.7% in unsafe sex behavior women. There were 7.9% seropositive from sera of healthy men and 12.5% seropositive from sera of men partners of trichomoniasis women. Conclusion: In general, the prevalence of T. vaginalis infection is high in symptomatic women and low in asymptomatic women. ELISA essay yielded high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of vaginal trichomoniasis. Key words: T. vaginalis, seroepidemiology, ELISA.

Wet cultivation in lowland rice causing excess water problems for the subsequent non-rice crops in the Mekong region

Crop diversification is advocated for improvement of income of lowland rice farmers in the Mekong region, including Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. One common problem of adding non-rice crops after wetland rice is excess water caused by reduced drainage associated with the hard pan that is commonly created to store water in the paddy for the rice crop. This paper firstly describes the water balance in the lowland fields particularly on how deep percolation is decreased by the hard pan, and the effect of wet cultivation on soil compaction and water availability in the subsequent crops such as mungbean. Experimental work in Cambodia shows how non-rice crops such as mungbean and peanut often fail completely or partially due to excess water. The common experience is complete failure of the early wet season non-rice crop when rain started earlier and the lowland paddy is saturated with water, but also non-rice crops often do not grow well due to shallow root systems confined to the top soil above the hard pan. Destructing the hard pan may help non-rice crops, but the process is expensive and may have an adverse effect on subsequent rice crops. Experimental work has also demonstrated that where irrigation water is available, irrigation is often not effective as it causes soil saturation in the top soil. Ways to minimize the excess water problem are discussed.