Effect of drought stress and its mitigating chemicals on aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation

Abstract

Aerobic rice cultivation is a method of growing rice in well-drained, non-puddled and non-saturated soils using specifically developed varieties. It is the process of growing a crop from dry seeds put in the ground rather than transplanting seedlings from a nursery. Rice production is severely limited by drought stress during reproductive phase, which causes significant economic losses. Enhancing agricultural yield in the drought-prone rainfed areas has become necessary in consideration of the present and projected global food demand. A field experiment was conducted during summer 2022 at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, to study the effect of drought stress at reproductive stage and its growth and yield of aerobic rice. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. In main plot irrigation interval viz., irrigation @ IW/CPE 1.0 (M1), withholding irrigation for 8 days from heading (M2), with holding irrigation for 12 days from heading (M3) was adopted. In sub plot stress mitigating chemicals viz., salicylic acid @ 100 ppm (S2), sodium selenate @ 20 ppm (S3), Pink Pigmented Facultative Methylotroph @ 1 per cent (S4) in comparison with control no spray (S1). The results revealed that irrigation @ IW/CPE 1.0 with foliar application of sodium selenate @ 20 ppm recorded higher grain yield (4146 kg ha-1) which was followed by drought stress for 8 days from heading with foliar spray of sodium selenate @ 20 ppm recorded the grain yield of 3461 kg ha-1. The application of sodium selenate @ 20 ppm at heading stage which results to mitigate the drought stress up to 8 days and the yield reduction is noticed only 16 per cent when compared to without drought stress.