Crop Establishment Methods and Integrated Nutrient Management Improve: Part I. Crop Performance, Water Productivity and Profitability of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the Lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, India

Ashim Midya,Sagar Maitra,Walaa F Alsanie,Akbar Hossain,Ahmed Gaber,Joy Kumar Dey,Dinkar Jagannath Gaikwad,Binoy Kumar Saren,Subhashisa Praharaj

doi:10.3390/agronomy11091860

Abstract

In the eastern part of India, rice as the most vital staple food crop supports as well the livelihood security of a vast population. Rice is mostly grown under conventional flooded culture without proper nutrient management. Crop performance, water productivity and economic profitability of rice cultivation need to be assessed under water-saving rice production methodologies with proper integrated plant nutrient management strategies using locally available low-cost nutrient sources. A field trial was conducted at the Adaptive Research Farm, Polba (58.57 m msl), Agriculture Department, West Bengal, India, during the rainy/wet seasons of 2014 and 2015 under aerobic culture, the system of rice intensification (SRI) and conventional flooded culture. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of integrated plant nutrition and water-saving rice production methodologies on the crop performance and water productivity of rice and analyse the economic profitability of rice under different nutritional management and crop production methods such as aerobic culture, conventional flooded and SRI with an objective of sustainability in rice cultivation in the agroclimatic region. The results revealed that crop productivity significantly (p ≤ 0.05) varied from 4.68 t ha−1 (average yield recorded under aerobic culture) to 6.21 t ha−1 (average yield as achieved under SRI). Cultivation of rice under aerobic and conventional culture resulted in 24.6% and 20.9% yield reduction respectively as compared to SRI. Integrating 75% of the recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) through chemicals with 25% RDN from vermicompost resulted in maximum crop productivity irrespective of crop culture. Aerobic rice culture registered maximum water economy in terms of both irrigation water productivity and total productivity. The study concludes that, for maximization of economic profitability, value cost ratio and partial factor productivity of nutrients the SRI method can be adopted along with integrated nutrient management (75% of RDN through chemicals with 25% RDN from vermicompost) in the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain Zone (IGPZ) of West Bengal, India.

Highlights

Rice is the vital staple food crop of the world [1,2], supports the livelihood of more than 100 million farm families [3] providing the energy requirement of billion of people and playing a pivotal role in the agro-ecosystem and biodiversity
A significant reduction in plant height of all nutrient management treatments under aerobic situation noted in comparison to other crop production methodologies might be due to retarded cell elongation resulting in a reduced intermodal length that showed the shortest plant under aerobic crop culture
recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) was applied through vermicompost coupled with brown manuring and bio-fertilizer and this treatment was at par with the rest of the nutrient management practice

Summary

Introduction

Rice is the vital staple food crop of the world [1,2], supports the livelihood of more than 100 million farm families [3] providing the energy requirement of billion of people and playing a pivotal role in the agro-ecosystem and biodiversity. More than three-fourths of rice output in India is realized on 79 million ha of irrigated lowland and it is predicted that 17 out of 75 million hectares of Asia’s flood irrigated rice crop will experience physical water scarcity and 22-million-hectare areas may experience economic water scarcity [6,7,8]. This clearly indicates a question about rice production sustainability in traditional wetland eco-system under flooded conditions. System of rice intensification (SRI), an environmentally benign water-saving production methodology, is gaining popularity and interest because of its potential to enhance the productivity of land, capital, water and labour used in rice with higher nutrient uptake of crops with enhanced partial factor productivity of nutrients [14,15,16]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion