Performance of Two Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Genotypes Under SRI and Conventional Farming Methods in Three Locations in Iraq

Abstract

The conservation of natural resources like soil and water and reduces chemical pollution in the environment is the desired goal of the directions of improving the performance of important crops that to meet the global food demand. However System of Rice Intensification (SRI), is a rice cropping system that is consistent with Conservation Agricultural (CA) and Sustainable Agriculture (SA). The current study was aimed to investigate the effects of SRI method on grain yield and its components in two rice varieties compared with conventional practice in farmers' fields (CFM) in different environmental conditions in Iraq. Study was conducted in the fields during the rice season 2019 in three provinces in south of Iraq (Najaf, Diwaniya and Muthanna ). Anber33 and Jasmine rice varieties were grown in each location and the traits were conducted at sites having two donum of land (5,000 m2). The trial was performed as factorial expriments based on a randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) having three blocks. The results showed superior significant of SRI method compared to CFM method in traits (plant height and panicle length, number per panicle and percentage of unfilled grains). Furthermore, SRI method gave higher grain yield as percentage with both varieties in each province (25.6% in at Muthanna, 24.5% in Najaf and 13.2% in Diwaniya province) compared to CFM. However, grain yield in Jasmine variety was higher than on Anber33 approximately 50% in three locations in this study. Overall, our results suggest that SRI method is the most convenient method in Iraq conditions due to the increased grain yield in rice compared to the CFM method.