Growth, Production Potential and Inputs Use Efficiency of Rice under Different Planting Methods in Drip Irrigation

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most vital staple food crop in Asia and human consumption accounts for 85% of total production of rice. The conventional rice production system with standing water not only leads to wastage of water but also causes ecological problems and reduces the use-efficiencies of inputs. An effort to increase crop and water productivity either by reducing water consumption or by increasing the yields or both will automatically facilitate higher growth in agricultural production. Keeping these in view, field experiments were conducted in 2011 and 2012 at the University Farm, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. Data were collected to assess the growth, yield, yield components and use efficiencies of nutrient and water of rice under drip irrigation and conventional irrigation practices. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design comprising of 4 replications and 4 treatments. Results show that growth, yield and their attributes, input use and economics differed significantly among the treatments in both years. All the growth factors studied were found to be higher in the flatbed method of Dry Seeded Rice (DSR) and drip irrigation. Shoot height was found significantly maximum in DSR with flood irrigation. Similarly, yield and yield attributes were superior in the flatbed method of DSR with drip irrigation in both years. Water and nutrient use efficiencies were found to be maximum in drip irrigated rice with 52% water savings than traditional flood-irrigated rice. It is also noted that Returns and Benefit-Cost ratio were higher with drip-irrigated rice than flooded irrigated rice.