Impact of various irrigation and establishment methods on yield and water use efficiency in rice

Abstract

The field experiment was executed to evaluate the impact of various irrigation and establishment methods on yield and water use efficiency in rice during Kharif 2018. Split plot design was used in the experiment which consists of three irrigation treatments in the main plot and five rice establishment treatments in the sub plot. The results revealed that, higher yield parameters like number of panicles/m2 (364.83), number of grains per panicle (73.98), number of filled grains per panicle (60.29) were recorded with maintenance of saturation up to panicle initiation (PI) and flooding after PI. Manual transplanting among rice establishment methods recorded significantly higher test weight (25.04 g), grain yield (5253 kg/ha) and harvest index (0.45). Whereas, mechanical transplanting recorded significantly higher number of grains per panicle (74.61) straw yield (7939 kg/ha). Among different irrigation methods, alternate wetting and drying up to PI followed by flooding after PI recorded significantly lower total water usage (94.94 cm) and higher water use efficiency (52.39 kg/ha-cm). Among rice establishment methods, mechanical transplanting recorded significantly lower total water usage (117.81 cm) and higher water use efficiency (48.80 kg/ha-cm). Interaction between alternate wetting and drying up to PI followed by flooding after PI and mechanical transplanting recorded lower total water usage (81.88 cm) and also recorded higher water use efficiency (68.75 ha-cm).