By M. Akhlasur Rahman Revitalizing the Ganges Coastal Zone Conference 21-23 October 2014, Dhaka, Bangladesh http://waterandfood.org/ganges-conference/

1. Challenges and opportunities for aman rice cultivation in
ghers used for brackish water shrimp production
M. Akhlasur Rahman

2. Polder-3
Satkhira
HIGHLY SALINE
Study areas for varietal trial and cropping systems
2
Rice-aquaculture: Salinity fluctuates from
high in dry season to low in rainy season

3. Challenges for rice in ghers
 High salinity at transplanting
 Submergence after transplanting
 Water stagnation – prolonged periods water 30-50 cm deep
 Fresh water scarcity during dry spells
 Fresh water scarcity when rains end early
Water management problems (drainage, irrigation)

4. Salinity…!

5. Salt stress: tolerance at both seedling and reproductive stages is
needed
Seedling: important in coastal areas for good
crop establishment

6. Reproductive: if long dry spells during WS and
in both coastal and inlands during DS season

7. Salinity is a problem in some locations in some or all seasons
Salinity tolerant
varieties
Salt sensitive
varieties

8. BRRI dhan28-Saltol BRRI dhan28
BRRI dhan47

9. September – drainage congestion in whole region
after heavy rain due to inadequate water conveyance
system (drainage)
October – water shortage - plenty of freshwater in
river but inadequate conveyance system (irrigation)

10. Trials at Sehara (Polder 3), Kaliganj,
Satkhira during T. Aman 2012
 Recovery rate 10-90% after
desubmergence
 Highest survival rate 90%
BRRI dhan52 (BR11-Sub1)
 Varietal trial completely
submerged for 5 days immediate
after transplanting

11. Aman cultivation at ghers, 2013
Transplanting
Water stagnation

12. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
Traditional/HYV Rice
(2-4 t/ha)
Existing cropping pattern: HIGH SALINE area
Aquaculture
(250-300 kg/ha)
Use of tolerant variety with
proper management

13. Submergence tolerance
2nd transplanting submerged for 1 week shortly after
transplanting – BRRI dhan52 survived well (Sub1 gene)
BRRI dhan52

14. 14
0
2
4
6
8
10
Watersalinity(dS/m)
Polder 3 - Sehara - Aman 2011
Good leaching/water mgt Poor leaching/water mgt
36 day-old
seedlings
26 day-old
seedlings
Farmer water (drainage) management has a huge
influence on salinity for aman rice

15. Water salinity 4-7 dS/m
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Waterdepth(cm) Polder 3 - Sehara - Aman 2011
Poor leaching/water mgt
36 day-old
seedlings
26 day-old
seedlings

16. Varietal trial at farmers
gher at aman, Polder 3

17. Well managed crop in ghers

18. PVS Activities

19. Variety
Vote
Preference
score
Rank
Yield (tha-1)
Male Female
Total
BRRI dhan47 9 3 12 0.083 Positive: 2nd 3.4
BRRI dhan52 18 7 25 0.192 Positive: 1st 4.0
BRRI dhan28 BRRI dhan52
BRRI dhan47
Total voter: 20 male+ 10 female

20. Intervention needed
 3 in 1 varieties (Saltol, Subtol, water stagnation tol)
 Appropriate water and agronomic management system
Current status
Advanced lines of 2 in 1
Submergence tolerant variety
All plants completely
damaged due to
submergence
Salinity

21. Combined tolerance
of salinity and
submergence
(SalTol + Sub1)
Rice under saline water
Water level

22. G.B. Gregorio
Future variety
Multiple stress
tolerant
Variety with
Saltol+Sub1+Dty2.1
+AG1+Pup1+High
Zn+BB+RTV

23. Progress/Opportunities
 Salinity tolerance Aman
 It is important to develop and use of both salinity and submergence
tolerant variety for this areas.
 Submergence tolerance
 Water stagnation tolerant
 Improved water management and drainage system
Seedling stage
Later stage-reproductive

24. Key findings
• Site specific variety, agronomic practices like optimum sowing
date and seedling age (> 35 days)
• Community water management including salinity and
drainage are important to make rice-shrimp production system
more cost-effective, productive and sustainable.
• Synchronization of agricultural & aquacultural activities
needed to realize this potential

25.  The optimum seeding date for polder 3 is July 31 may
be recommended for polder 3
 BRRI dhan47, BRRI dhan52, BRRI dhan54 and BINA dhan8 are
potential varieties for boost up productivity in this fragile
environment.
BRRI dhan44 produced the highest yield, both male and female
farmers preferred BRRI dhan52 and BRRI dhan47 as the best bet
varieties.
 Appropriate water management (drainage/irrig) system is also
one of the vital issues to obtain more rice and fish/shrimp yield
 Water stagnation is also a problem immediately after
transplanting
Conclusions

26. Thank you