water use efficiency is a paradox in some instances...... Using hydroponic in grain production is restricted to small scale of experiments, however, rice is the most suitable crop for hydroponic, owing to earanchyma  tissues O2 .....

Thank you Dr. Abdel, but my question is whether hydroponics could be a replacement for conventional type of paddy cultivation under growing water demand conditions. I think we need lot of research in the point of concern.

Dr. Rajanna, many of the Graminaceae family crops are now cultivated via hydroponic cultivation, however, the idea is to collect the fodder and not the grains. The idea was used to grow crops for seven days just with the support of water (can be recycled if wanted to). The idea of producing hydroponic fodder stands cheap and have high WUE. The same idea is probably used in soilless raising of seedling for rice. Moreover, to grow rice taking its grains, it can be done with supplement of nutrient in hydroponic media which is often used for light based experiments.

Though, rice is a crop of daily utility, its price is still low compared to vegetables or fruit which are hydroponically cultivated. The question is "Will it stand the economics if we grow rice hydroponically?"

Regards,

Kapil Sharma

Thank you Dr. Sharma and Adak for your valuable suggestions. It does mean that hydroponics could be useful on short term basis for fodder purpose. I think for large scale conditions and grain purpose we  need validation.

Sir, you may check the following links. This question is not new and has been in the scientific community through years

Links are comprised of DIY, news articles and some scientific references. I hope in India too we will looking its setup in coming days. All the best.

https://www.plantcellwall.jp/protocol/pdf/protocol_14.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_grow_rice_hydroponically

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/growing-rice-with-aquaponics

http://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/feasibility-study-of-rice-growth-in-plant-factories-jrr.1000119.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/from-paddy-fields-to-uae-deserts-the-farmer-growing-rice-using-hydroponics

Thank you Dr Sharma

I'm not certain the rationale behind this question, but there is not enough value per unit area in rice culture to make commercial hydroponic production economically feasible.

I agree with you Dr. Robert. Hydroponic has been a successful venture in high value crops that includes vegetables, fruits and flowers. However, there has been research on rice and maize hydroponic system. I have seen some of the references for their cultivation in Israel. However, I didn't find any papers on economics of hydroponic rice cultivation. If you have any of such references, kindly share with us.

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/from-paddy-fields-to-uae-deserts-the-farmer-growing-rice-using-hydroponics

This is all I could find.  Best wishes.

Thank you Dr Lane

Dear i think its a time to cultivate drought resist crop/varieties for feeding the world without maximizing the amount of water because water resources decreasing day by day by melting the glaciers. World agriculturists working on cultivate rice as wheat (non water loving plant). I think you can do this rice hydroponic condition just those conditions where there is extremely need of food or soil conditions are available for betterment of humankind.