Productivity and water-use efficiency of rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars under different irrigation regimes and systems of cultivation

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted on clay loam soils of the Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2017 and 2018, to study the performance of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars under different irrigation regimes and systems of cultivation. The treatments consisted of 2 irrigation regimes, viz. alternate wetting and drying (AWD), and saturation as main plot treatments, while 3 systems of cultivation, viz. system of rice intensification (SRI), drum seeding (DS) and normal transplanting (NT) as subplot treatments and assessed 4 cultivars, viz. ‘DRR Dhan 42’, ‘DRR Dhan 43’, ‘MTU 1010’ and ‘NLR 34449’ as sub-subplot treatments. Total 24 treatment combinations were laid out in split-plot design with 3 replications. Application of water through the AWD method saved around 11–14% of the total water requirement during the crop-growth period. Irrigation by AWD resulted in significantly higher irrigation water productivity and water-use efficiency (WUE). The SRI method required the lowest amount of water (11.61% and 13.21% less of mean applied than drum seeding and normal transplanting respectively). Significantly higher water productivity and WUE were registered with SRI. ‘DRR Dhan 43’ recorded higher water productivity as well as WUE as compared to the other cultivars during both the years of study owing to higher productivity.