Rabbing may be done in first week of June. Prepare seedbed for raising seedlings. Generally, the sowing time for kharif rice nursery is during first fortnight of June. For summer transplanted rice, 15th December to 10th January is optimum seeding time, while transplanting should be done in first week of February.

Seeding time in kharif paddy (Transplanted) is as follows

Variety Time of seeding the nursery
Late May end to 1st week of June.
Midlate Mid June
Early 3rd week of June.

Seed rate
For bold grain varieties, 30 kg seed and for fine grain varieties, 20 kg seed would be required to raise seedlings in 10 are (Guntha) area, which is enough for one hectare.

Seed rate for 10 m x 1 m bed size

1) 325 gram seeds/ bed for bold grains varieties
2) 225 gram seeds/ bed for small grains varieties

Seed treatment
Soak seeds in 3.0 % salt (NaCl) solution (10 litres water + 300 grams salt). Unfilled seeds would begin to float. Remove these seeds by draining water. Repeat the process till all unfilled seeds are removed. Wash out sound seeds thoroughly with fresh water. After drying, seeds should be treated with Thiram or Captan or Cerasan or Agrosan @ 3 g/kg of seeds for controlling the seed borne disease. Treat seedlings roots in solution of Azotobacter or Azospirillum for 15 minutes before transplanting.

Manures and fertilizers for nursery
Apply the manures as below for nursery of 10 are area..

1. Farm Yard Manure - 20 Cart Loads
2. Castor Cake 100 kg
3. Nitrogen 10 kg (50 kg Ammonium Sulphate)
4. Phosphorus 8 kg (50 kg Single Superphosphate)