Crop establishment is one of the major rice production operations that strongly affects rice production, productivity, and environmental impacts. This research introduced a new technology and provided scientific evidence for the benefits of mechanized wet direct seeding (mDSR) of rice as compared with the other crop establishment practices commonly applied by farmers for wet direct seeded rice in Mekong River Delta in Vietnam, such as seeding in line using drum-seeder (dDSR) and broadcast seeding (bDSR). The experiment was implemented across two consecutive rice cropping seasons that are Winter-Spring season and Summer-Autumn season in 2020–2021. Treatments included (1–3) mDSR with seeding rates of 30, 50, and 70 kg ha^− 1, (4) dDSR with 80 kg ha^− 1 seed rate, and (5) bDSR as current farmer practice with seeding rate of 180 kg ha^− 1. The fertilizer application was adjusted as per seeding rate with 80:40:30 kg ha^− 1 N: P₂O₅: K₂O with lower seed rate 30 and 50 kg ha^− 1 in mDSR; 90:40:30 kg ha^− 1 N: P₂O₅: K₂O with medium seed rate of 70 to 80 kg ha^− 1; and 115:55:40 kg ha^− 1 N: P₂O₅: K₂O with high seed rate of 180 kg ha^− 1 in bDSR. Mechanized wet direct seeding rice with a lower seed rate of 30 to 70 kg ha^− 1 and fertilizer rate by 22–30% reduced variation in seedling density by 40–80% and in yield by 0.1 to 0.3 t ha^− 1 and had similar yield to bDSR. In consequence, N productivity was 27 and 32% higher in mDSR as compared to bDSR during the Winter-Spring season and Summer-Autumn seasons, respectively. The use of lower seed rate and fertilizer in mDSR also led to higher income and lower carbon footprint (GHGe per kg of paddy grains) of rice production than the currently used practices of bDSR. Net income of mDSR was comparable to that of dDSR and higher by 145–220 and 171–248 $US than that of bDSR in Winter-Spring season and Summer-Autumn, respectively. The carbon footprint of mDSR rice production compared to bDSR was lower by 22–25% and 12–20% during the Winter-Spring and Summer-Autumn seasons, respectively. Given the above benefits of farming efficiency, higher income, and low emission, mDSR would be a technology package that strongly supports sustainable rice cultivation transformation for the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam.

作物种植是主要的水稻生产活动之一，它强烈影响水稻生产、生产力和环境影响。这项研究引入了一项新技术，并为水稻机械化湿式直播 （mDSR） 的好处与越南湄公河三角洲农民通常采用的其他作物种植做法相比，例如使用滚筒播种机 （dDSR） 和广播播种 （bDSR） 进行在线播种。该实验在 2020-2021 年的冬春季和夏秋季这两个连续的水稻种植季节实施。处理包括 （1-3） 播种量为 30、50 和 70 kg ^ha-1 的 mDSR，（4） 80 kg ^ha-1 播种量的 dDSR，以及 （5） bDSR 作为当前农民做法，播种量为 180 kg ^ha-1。根据播种量调整施肥量，播种量为 80：40：30 kg ha^{− 1} N： P₂O₅： K₂O，mDSR 中较低的播种量为 30 和 50 kg ha^{− 1};90：40：30 kg ha^{− 1} N： P₂O₅： K₂O，中等播种量 70 至 80 kg ha^{− 1};和 115：55：40 kg ha^{− 1} N： P₂O₅： K₂O，在 bDSR 中具有 180 kg ha^{− 1} 的高种子率。机械化湿式直播水稻的播种量较低，为 30 至 70 公斤 ha^{− 1}，施肥量为 22-30%，幼苗密度变化减少了 40-80%，产量减少了 0.1 至 0.3 吨公顷^{− 1}，产量与 bDSR 相似。因此，在冬春季和夏秋季，mDSR 的氮生产力分别比 bDSR 高 27% 和 32%。 与目前使用的 bDSR 做法相比，在 mDSR 中使用较低的种子用量和肥料也导致了水稻生产的收入更高和碳足迹（每公斤稻谷的 GHGe）。mDSR 的净收入与 dDSR 相当，在冬春和夏秋季节分别比 bDSR 高 145-220 和 171-248 $US。与 bDSR 相比，mDSR 水稻生产的碳足迹在冬春和夏秋季节分别降低了 22-25% 和 12-20%。鉴于上述农业效率高、收入高和低排放等优势，mDSR 将成为有力支持越南湄公河三角洲可持续水稻种植转型的技术包。