In spite of simple and cheap cultivation method, water broadcast-seeded rice demonstrates uneven and unstable seedling establishment per unit land area and requires more herbicide and labor-input for weed control. Three experiments were conducted in a phytotron at 18~circC to evaluate the adaptability of seed-mat mulching cultivation technologies in water seeded rice for the uniform seedling establishment and the inhibition of weed occurrence without herbicide application. Five different kinds of mat with different mesh sizes and fabric properties were tested. The emergence of rice was the highest in Lawn-mat treatment, being comparable with the control, in which seeds were sown without mat. The Lawn-mat also exhibited the lowest mat tension. Mat tension may influence the emergence of rice. And once it was soaked in water, it didn't maintain its original shape any more. The emergence rate of rice was the lowest in Safer-mat treatment. In Lawn-mat treatment, which was the most effective for rice emergence in the first study, the differences of emergence and seedling establishment of rice depending on the seeding position (upper, beneath, and between mats) treatments were negligible, while they were higher in dry seeds than in pre-germinated seeds treatment. The emergence as affected by the kinds of mat also showed the same trend when tested using barnyard grass. Depending on the kinds of mat, the inhibition effect of weeds was the greatest in Safer-mat and the poorest in Lawn-mat. These results strongly suggest the possibility that the uniform seedling establishment and weed management without chemical could be achieved simultaneously by seed-mat mulching through the combination of effective mat for the emergence of rice and another efficient mat for the inhibition of weed occurrence. This possibility was also tested in the field.

• Woon-Ho Yang
• Jae-Hyun Kim
• Je-Kyu Kim
• Hee-Suk Han
• Moon-Hee Lee