Story by Dustin Harrell, LSU AgCenter Rice Specialist
After you make your rice variety and hybrid rice selections, one of the next decisions a producer has to make is what seed treatments you are going to put on the seed. As you know, blackbirds can be a serious problem here in Louisiana, especially in early planted rice. In fact, a flock of blackbirds can devour a freshly seeded rice field in a matter of hours. Fortunately, we do have one seed treatment that can be used to discourage feeding on rice seed by blackbirds.