Influence of subsurface drainage on the productivity of poorly drained paddy fields

Abstract

Because of the relatively flat topography of Northern Iran consolidated paddy fields and inadequate natural drainage facilities, these lands are usually confronted with waterlogging due to periodic excess of water from rainfall during the wet months. The productivity of these areas could be greatly increased if their drainage problems were solved by subsurface drainage. Subsurface drainage may also facilitate the mid-season drainage (MSD), one of the water management methods during the rice growing season. A drainage pilot consisting of surface and subsurface drainage with different drain depths and spacings was designed at Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Iran, to explore the effect of different drainage systems on the productivity of paddy fields. Rice cultivation was carried out during two cropping seasons, 2011 and 2012. In 2011, after rice harvest, canola seed was cultivated in the subsurface drained area. For MSD, the fields were drained 25 days after rice transplanting and remained drained for 7 days. Randomized complete block design was used to find the effect of drainage on crops. The implementation of MSD through subsurface drainage, significantly increased yield, yield components and growth parameters of rice. Rice yield of the subsurface drained area was approximately 1.22–1.66 and 1.32–1.7 times higher than that of the surface drained area in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Subsurface drainage provided better condition for canola cropping while, because of waterlogging, it was not possible under surface drainage. An economic analysis showed that the cost of installing subsurface drainage systems was readily justified by annual increased rice and canola yields. Based on the results, the introduction of the subsurface drainage resulted in an increase in both crop yield and cropping intensity in the study area.