Rice can be cultivated under a variety of climatic and soil conditions. Rice cultivation is conditioned by temperature parameters at the different phases of growth. The critical mean temperature for flowering and fertilization ranges from 16 to 20⁰C, whereas, during ripening stage, it ranges from 18 to 32⁰C. Temperature beyond 35⁰C affects grain filling. Rice comes up well in different soil types. For normal growth, a pH range of 5.0-8.0 is suitable.

In general, rice can be grown as a transplanted or a direct sown crop during three seasons as shown below depending on the agroclimatic situations.

Different rice growing seasons of Kerala

During second crop, in Palakkad district, where assured irrigation is available, for higher yield in photosensitive high yielding varieties the crop commencement may be adjusted in such a way that it flowers only during the second fortnight of December, facilitating proper integration with the weather, better utilization of applied fertilizers and high filling percentage.