Non-rice Crops Research Articles

Diversity of Soil Moisture Movement in Growing Non-rice Crops on Paddy Based Land of Tropical Area and its Analysis

Diversity of Soil Moisture Movement in Growing Non-rice Crops on Paddy Based Land of Tropical Area and its Analysis

Impact of on-farm water management research on the performance of a gravity irrigation system in Bangladesh

Irrigation coverage increased in the middle and tailend tertiaries in the monsoon season due to proper monitoring, allocation and equitable distribution of water. Farmers used to apply about 40% more water than actually needed for rice cultivation. After a demonstration of water-saving techniques, the farmers applied an optimum amount of water for growing rice. Land productivity in the tailend areas of the irrigation system can be increased by an alternative water management approach. About 6.0 t/ha rice can be obtained from timely grown monsoon rice in those areas, where wet season rice can not be grown due to shortage of water. Before 1982, only a few farmers used to grow non-rice crops in the project area. Field demonstration of the selected non-rice crops encouraged them to grow those crops in dry season. Adoption of non-rice crops was increased from almost nil to about 50%. The farmers could not go for a proper production plan due to an erratic and uncertain pumping schedule. A fixed starting and suspension date, which will not change from year to year, will be followed in productive use of water. Consequently, it will create pump suspension opportunities for about 30–40 days during June to August and thus a pump operation cost of Tk. 400 000 or US$ 11 500 per day will be saved.

High Frequency Basin Irrigation Design for Upland Crops in Rice Lands

Rice soils are generally characterized by heavy textures, poor structures, low porosities and permeabilities, shallow traffic pans, and slow rates of drainage. Crop growth and yields of upland (i.e., nonrice) crops in these soils are adversely affected because of restricted root aeration and development. Under these conditions, irrigation of nonrice crops poses serious problems because of the low air porosity and the tendency of the soil to waterlog. A high-frequency basin irrigation method for nonrice crops in rice soils is developed. It is based on a computer solution of the Lewis and Milne surface irrigation volume balance equation by numerically inverting the Laplace transform of the equation. The method provides an optimum design for the alleviation of the soil-related adverse effects while enabling a high application efficiency and uniformity. The method is field-tested in three different fields, in which 0.330, 0.326, and 0.374 m of water are applied in 8, 7, and 10 low-volume irrigations, respectively. Overall application efficiencies of 90.9%, 92.3%, and 93.6% are achieved, routinely exceeding the design application efficiency.

Nutritional properties of nonrice crops in the Asian Rice Farming Systems Network

Six legume crops and three cereal crops in the Asian Rice Farming Systems Network were compared with IR58 brown rice in terms of dry matter, energy and protein yields per hectare. Sorghum was closest to brown rice in dry matter and energy yield but soybean had the highest protein yield. Peanut and soybean had higher crude fat than the other crops which accounted for their high energy content and yield among the legumes. Amino acid analysis showed cowpea, mungbean, pigeonpea, bushsitao, and soybean protein as limiting in sulfur amino acids (cysteine + methionine). Peanut protein was limiting in either lysine or tryptophan + threonine. Corn, sorghum and wheat proteins were limiting in lysine.

Agronomic practices and yield assessments of deepwater rice in Bangladesh

Abstract Deepwater rice is grown widely in areas flooding every year to depths of 0.5 to 3.5 m in the valleys and deltas of South and Southeast Asia. In Bangladesh alone, 1.7 million ha are planted to this especially adapted type of rice. The agronomic practices and yield performance of deepwater rice were investigated in Bangladesh from 1977 to 1980 by farmer survey and crop-cut assessment. Land preparation consists usually of seven ploughings and eight harrowings in January to April with simple cattle-drawn implements; usually dry seed, but occasionally pre-germinated seed, is broadcast at 87–95 kg/ha in March to May and a small amount of transplanting takes place; 58% of the fields were sown to pure stands of deepwater rice, 32% were mixed sown with a short duration rice (‘aus’), and 10% were mixed with other non-rice crops. Small amounts of dung and compost are applied; fertilizer was used on one-quarter of the fields, mainly in the eastern, high-rainfall areas; virtually no pesticides are applied. Weeds were controlled in the preflood period (April to mid June) by two cultivations and two handweedings. Harvesting (October to December) is by hand and by cattle are used for threshing; the straw serves mainly as animal fodder and the more bulky stubble is used for fuel in the village or as a mulch for dry season crops. From December to March 80–87% of the fields were planted to dry season crops; more than 90% of the fields were double- or triple-cropped during the year. Favourable preflood rainfall and mild flooding regimes in 1977 and 1978 produced average yields of 2.5 and 2.3 t/ha unmilled paddy, respectively. In 1979 an early drought, and in 1980 severe late flooding, were mainly responsible for reducing the average yield to 2.1 t/ha. The overall 4-year yield average of 2.3 t/ha represents a higher yield level than that quoted in many previous reports. Deepwater rice yields appear to be higher and more stable than the short duration aus crop which is planted at the same time. Higher yields were associated with: (a) the Meghna floodplain having higher early rainfall and a milder flooding pattern; (b) vareties such as Pankaish, Khama, and Kartik Sail yielding > 3 t/ha in one-third of the fields; (c) maximum water depths of 1.5–1.8 (although some varieties yielded well in 3.4 m of water); and (d) pure stands of deepwater rice. The mean yield of fertilized fields was similar to that of unfertilized ones. Farmers use simple wooden implements and few inputs except for the relatively high labour requirements of land preparation, weeding and harvesting. The stable yields are probably due to: (a) natural sources of fertility (crop residues, pulse crops, alluvium and algae); (b) the development of intensive cropping patterns using different crops and special varieties accompanied by a set of versatile agronomic practices; and (c) the absence of a water deficit during the reproductive phase. Yields are clearly governed by the distribution of preflood rainfall, flooding regime, the deepwater rice variety selected, the cropping pattern followed, and the incidence of several pests.