Impact of Organic Amendment with Alternate Wetting and Drying Irrigation on Rice Yield, Water Use Efficiency and Physicochemical Properties of Soil

Abstract

A pot experiment was executed to investigate the impact of biochar and compost with water-saving irrigation on the rice yield, water use efficiency, and physicochemical properties of soil. Two irrigation regimes—namely alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and continuous flooding (CF)—and four types of organic amendments (OA)—namely rice husk biochar (RHB), oil palm empty fruit bunch biochar (EFBB), compost and a control—were applied to evaluate their effects. Under the AWD irrigation regime, the maximum grain was produced by RHB (241.12 g), whereas under the same organic amendments, both AWD and CF produced a similar grain yield. Under the same organic amendment, a significantly higher water use efficiency (WUE) was observed from the AWD irrigation with RHB (6.30 g L−1) and EFBB (5.80 g L−1). Within the same irrigation regime, soil pH, cation exchange capacity, total carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphorus were enhanced due to the incorporation of biochar and compost, while higher soil exchangeable potassium was observed under CF irrigation for all treatments. RHB and EFBB significantly reduced the soil bulk density (up to 20.70%) and increased porosity (up to 16.70%) under both irrigation regimes. The results imply that the use of biochar with AWD irrigation could enhance the nutrient uptake and physicochemical properties of soil and allow rice to produce a greater yield with less water consumption.

A Model of Evapotranspirative Irrigation to Manage the Various Water Levels in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Its Effect on Crop and Water Productivities

“…This lead showed that maintaining water level at the soil surface at the beginning of plant growth is one alternative to raise water-use efficiency. This result is similar to that from an alternate wet and dry irrigation (AWD) experiment conducted previously to improve water use efficiency [43].…”

Combined Use of Biochar with 15Nitrogen Labelled Urea Increases Rice Yield, N Use Efficiency and Fertilizer N Recovery under Water-Saving Irrigation

“…Thereby, no drastic yield loss because the plant roots always reached soil water during the drying cycles. Nevertheless, this little yield reduction was also reported by Haque et al [57], where carbon isotope discrimination in the rice leaf revealed that rice faces a sharp moisture deficit condition to some extent under AWD, which can be recovered by applying biochar such as RHB and EFBB [57]. From a previous study, Bakar et al [58] reported that the application of EFBB improved the soil quality by increasing soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) and soil carbon; in addition, it also alleviates soil pH, which ultimately increased the rice yield.…”

“…Furthermore, this study also revealed that integrated RHB and EFBB with N fertilizer increased the grain yield up to 7-8% by the main effect of biochar. Many studies from the past also reported the positive impact of biochar on rice yield [24,57,59,60]. There are several factors through which biochar inclusion in the soil accelerates rice yield, including enhanced nutrient uptake [57], photosynthetic activity [61] and improved soil properties such as nutrient availability [62], CEC [58], porosity [28] and moisture retention [59].…”

Effects of Chemical Fertilizer Combined with Organic Fertilizer Application on Soil Properties, Citrus Growth Physiology, and Yield

“…Soil at a depth of 0-20 cm, approximately 15 cm away from the fertilization application hole, was sampled in December. Soil porosity was also measured following Haque et al [33]. Soil was dried naturally after passing through a 2 mm sieve.…”