Tillage, Water and Nitrogen Management Strategies Influence the Water Footprint, Nutrient Use Efficiency, Productivity and Profitability of Rice in Typic Ustochrept Soil

Abstract

The current study was conducted to assess how optimal tillage water and nitrogen management system are adopted to reduce various field inputs, to improve water footprint (WF), nutrient use efficiency (NUE), rice productivity and profitability. The W1 (CS to a depth of 5 cm) achieved significantly higher total water footprint (TWFP) compared to all other irrigation strategies. When N1 (control) and N2 (80 kg N ha−1) was used, the highest TWFP was observed. The rice transplanted on wide raised beds (WBed-TPR) (0.71 kg m−3) yielded the greatest water productivity (WPIRRI), followed by reduced tillage transplanted rice (RT-TPR) and conventional tillage puddled transplanted rice (CT-TPR). The physiological NUE values ranged from 33.3 to 50.6 kg grain/kg N absorption, the values decreasing as the N doses rose. According to the findings, WBed-TPR and RT-TPR plots similarly drank more moisture from the deeper profile layer than CT-TPR practice. In plots of CT-TPR and WBed-TPR, the yield contributing characteristics of rice all increased, while grain yield increased by 16.8% and 10.6% over NBed-TPR technique, respectively. Finally, CT-TPR reported with maximum cultivation costs, followed by NBed-TPR and the lowest in RT-TPR plots, although WBed-TPR had the highest net profit, B: C ratio.