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作业之一，对水稻产量、生产力和环境影响有很大影响。这项研究引入了一项新技术，并为水稻机械化湿直播（mDSR）与越南湄公河三角洲农民通常用于湿直播水稻的其他作物种植做法（例如播种）相比的好处提供了科学证据。使用滚筒播种机 (dDSR) 和撒播播种机 (bDSR) 进行在线播种。该试验在2020-2021年连续两个水稻种植季（冬春季和夏秋季）进行。处理包括 (1–3) mDSR，播种量为 30、50 和 70 公斤公顷 ^− 1 ，(4) dDSR，播种量为 80 公斤公顷 ^− 1 ，以及 (5) bDSR 作为当前农民的做法，播种量为 180 公斤/公顷 ^− 1 。施肥量按播种量调整为80:40:30公斤·公顷 ^− 1 N:P ₂ O ₅ :K ₂ mDSR 中播种量较低的 O 30 和 50 kg ha ^− 1 ； 90:40:30 kg ha ^− 1 N: P ₂ O ₅ : K ₂ O 中等播种量 70 至 80千克公顷 ^− 1 ； 115:55:40 kg ha ^− 1 N: P ₂ O ₅ : K ₂ O 播种量高达 180 kg bDSR 中的 ha ^− 1 。机械化湿直播稻播种量降低30至70公斤公顷 ^− 1 ，施肥量降低22%至30%，苗密度变化减少40%至80%，产量变化减少0.1至0.3吨公顷 ^− 1 并且与 bDSR 具有相似的产量。因此，在冬春季节和夏秋季节，mDSR 的氮生产力比 bDSR 分别高 27% 和 32%。 与目前使用的 bDSR 做法相比，mDSR 中使用较低的播种量和肥料还可以带来更高的收入和更低的水稻生产碳足迹（每公斤稻谷的 GHGe）。 mDSR 的净利润与 dDSR 相当，冬春和夏秋分别比 bDSR 高 145-220 美元和 171-248 美元。与 bDSR 相比，mDSR 水稻生产的碳足迹在冬春和夏秋分别降低了 22-25% 和 12-20%。鉴于上述农业效率、高收入和低排放的优势，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。