Abstract
ABSTRACT Water scarcity has led to the adoption of water-saving irrigation technology around the world. Drip-irrigation has been used for rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation in Xinjiang, China. Researchers reported 12.0 t/ha yield; however, drip-irrigated rice produces around 6-8 t/ha in practice, and it is clear that water deficiency explains this gap. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to compare the growth, photosynthetic characteristics, and antioxidant activity of rice grown in nutrient solutions with water potentials of 0.00, -0.02, -0.05, and -0.09 MPa [0, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5% polyethylene glycol (PEG), respectively], to determine the optimal water conditions for drip-irrigated rice. There was no significant difference between the 0, 2.5, and 5.0% PEG treatments for relative growth rate and relative water content after 10 and 20 days. However, 2.5 and 5.0% PEG treatments substantially affected the photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant enzyme activity after 10 and 20 days. Treatment with 7.5% PEG inhibited shoot growth. There was a significant reduction in antioxidant enzyme activity. Water-saving rice cultivation, such as drip-irrigated rice, suffered mild drought stress at -0.02 to -0.05 Mpa, but this did not inhibit growth. The amount of irrigation should be increased to obtain higher rice yields under drip-irrigation conditions.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a staple food for many people in Asia, is generally grown under flooded conditions
This study focused on the relative growth rate (RGR) (1) and relative water content (RWC) (2), photosynthesis response (3), enzyme activity (4), and permeate and peroxidation products (5), and aimed to analyze the activity optimized water condition of drip-irrigated rice
The relative growth rate (RGR) of rice was significantly influenced by water potential and treatment duration (Figure 2)
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a staple food for many people in Asia, is generally grown under flooded conditions. Rice yields as high as 12.0 t/ha have been reported when soil water content is maintained at >90% of field water capacity (GUO; CHEN, 2012; ZHU et al, 2013), which reduces water use by about 60% (HE et al, 2014). Drip-irrigated rice produces yields of 6–8 t/ha, which is much lower than the performance of flooding rice .Drip-irrigated rice is more vulnerable than flooded rice is due to water stress This is because the soil of drip-irrigated rice is aerobic, and soil water content is close to the soil water field capacity. This study focused on the relative growth rate (RGR) (1) and relative water content (RWC) (2), photosynthesis response (3), enzyme activity (4), and permeate and peroxidation products (5), and aimed to analyze the activity optimized water condition of drip-irrigated rice
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