Abstract
Growing oilseed rape in the fallow season may be a feasible alternative to growing green manure (e.g. Chinese milk vetch) for improving rice productivity. The objective of this study was to determine the yield performance of machine-transplanted double-season rice (i.e. early- and late-season rice) grown following oilseed rape. Field experiments were conducted to compare machine-transplanted double-season rice grown following oilseed rape, Chinese milk vetch and fallow (i.e. no crop) at Hengyang and Yueyang, Hunan Province, China in three cropping cycles from 2014 to 2017. Results showed that machine-transplanted double-season rice grown following oilseed rape and Chinese milk vetch produced similar grain yield, which was higher than that grown following fallow across two sites and three cropping cycles. The higher grain yield of machine-transplanted double-season rice grown following oilseed rape and Chinese milk vetch was attributable to improvement in both sink size (spikelet number per m2) and source capacity (total biomass). However, the reasons for the improved sink size of machine-transplanted double-season rice grown following oilseed rape and Chinese milk vetch were not entirely the same. Growing oilseed rape increased panicle size (spikelet number per panicle) and panicle number in early- and late-season rice, respectively, while growing Chinese milk vetch increased panicle number in both the early- and late-season rice. Our study suggests that growing oilseed rape in the fallow season is a useful alternative strategy for improving productivity of machine-transplanted double-season rice.
Highlights
Rice is the major staple food crop for more than half of the world’s population, and more than 90% of rice worldwide is produced and consumed in Asia[1]
There was no significant difference in mean grain yield of early-season rice between oilseed rape followed by double-season rice (ODR) and milk vetch followed by double-season rice (MDR)
Mean grain yield of early-season rice was about 5% higher under ODR and MDR than under followed by double-season rice (FDR)
Summary
Rice is the major staple food crop for more than half of the world’s population, and more than 90% of rice worldwide is produced and consumed in Asia[1]. Growing green manure crops (e.g. Chinese milk vetch) in the fallow season is a traditional practice used in rice production in China[11], and this practice has been clearly documented as beneficial for improving rice productivity[12,13,14]. Our previous studies indicate that oilseed rape can offer several rotational benefits in single-season rice cropping systems, including improving soil fertility, increasing the earthworm population, reducing dependence on external fertilizer inputs and maintaining high rice productivity[18,19,20]. The benefits of growing oilseed rape have been identified in major double-season rice cropping provinces in China such as Hunan, and great progress has been made in developing high-yielding short-duration oilseed rape cultivars for the double-season rice cropping system[21]. There is limited information available on how growing oilseed rape in the fallow season affects crop performance of double-season rice
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