Direct‐Seeded Bed Planting in Rice: A Sustainable Approach to Water Savings, Profitability, and Climate Resilience

Improving the weaknesses in existing rice production systems is essential to ensure sufficient quantity of food needed to support rapid population growth. By addressing current limitations and enhancing efficiency, rice production can better meet increasing global demand. At the same time, reducing cultivation costs and using limited resources—such as water, land, and energy—more efficiently will help make these systems more productive, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable. The present study was conducted to evaluate direct seeded rice (DSR)–bed, DSR–ridge, DSR–drill–alternate wetting and drying (AWD), DSR–drill, transplanted rice (TR–AWD), and conventional transplanted rice (CTR) under randomized complete block design during 2023 and 2024. The results demonstrated that DSR–bed improved both growth parameters and grain yield components. The highest grain yield achieved under this system was 5.29 and 5.68 t ha −1 showing an increase of 19% and 13% over the CTR during 2023 and 2024, respectively. Similarly, water use efficiency was also 86% and 80% higher than CTR during 2023 and 2024, respectively. Further, DSR–bed resulted in saving 11% of production cost, and thereby net profit was 61% and 37% more than CTR with a cost benefit ratio of 1.30 and 1.59 during 2023 and 2024, respectively. The study highlights DSR–bed as most economical resource‐conserving stand establishing technique and a better alternative to CTR for enhancing the productivity of rice on sustainable basis.