This document discusses various methods for enhancing water productivity in rice cultivation, including the traditional lowland rice method, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method, aerobic rice cultivation, and alternate wetting and drying. It provides details on the core principles and practices of each method, comparisons of their water usage and yields versus traditional flooding, and conclusions about their benefits like increased productivity and water savings.

2. “Enhancing Water Productivity in Rice through
Different Methods of Rice Cultivation”
Shantappa Duttarganvi
Doctoral Research Fellow
WALAMTARI

3. Introduction
Traditional/ low land rice
SRI method
Aerobic Rice
Alternate wetting and Drying
Direct seeded rice
Conclusion

4. RICE IS LIFE Cultivate more land with less water
Introduction

5. • >3 billion people in Asia & 1.5 billion people in Africa and
Latin America
•37% area (154 Mha) is rainfed--scope to increase productivity

6. To meet future food requirements, India need to increase rice
productivity by 3 % per annum
(Thiyagarajan and Selvaraju, 2001)
To produce 1 kg of grain, farmers have to supply 2-3 times more
water in rice fields than other cereals
(Baker et al., 1998)
80% of the freshwater resources are used for irrigation purpose half
of which is used for rice production
(Dawe et al., 1998)
“Despite the constraints of water scarcity, rice production must rise
dramatically over the next generation to meet the food needs “
(Serageldin, 2011)

7. DES, 2009

8. Bouman, 2001
Components of water balance
in rice fields

9. Selection of a good genotype
Method of planting
Weed management
Irrigation method and land
levelling
Seed priming
Silicon nutrition

10.  Low land rice
 Aerobic rice
 System of rice Intensification (SRI)
 Alternate wetting and drying (AWD)
 Direct seeded rice
 Deep water rice
 Ground cover rice production system
 Raised bed-saturated soil culture method
 Drip irrigation

11. Low land rice
 High water requirement
3000–5000 liters of water to
produce 1 kg of rice
 Environmental degradation
 Reduces fertilizer use efficiency
 Destruction of soil aggregates
 Anaerobic fermentation of soil
organic matter: Methane emission

12. Ways to improve WUE in conventional
system
 Crack/rat hole ploughing
 Bund lining or reparing breached bunds
 Conoweeding
 Line sowing
 Saturated condition
 Proper land leveling and puddling
 Transplanting young seedlings

13. Water saving methods
• System of rice Intensification (SRI): 30-40%
• Alternate wetting and drying (AWD): 15-30%
• Aerobic rice: 40-50%
• Direct seeded rice: 75%
• Ground cover rice production system: 50-60%

14. SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI)
METHOD
• SRI was developed in Madagascar in the early-1980s by Father
Henri de Laulanie
• Formal experimentation started in India 2002-2003
Core principles of SRI
< seed- one seed revolution
< water- Rice is not an aquatic plant
8-12 day old seedlings
Mechanical weeding
Square planting
Organic source of nutrients
“SRI cuts the water required for irrigated rice by 25-50%. The
combination of water reduction together with other SRI practices
can increase paddy yields by 50-100%”
Norman Uphoff

15. • 8-12 days old seedlings
• The fields are alternately kept
wet and dry; they are not
flooded until the panicle
initiation stage
• 1-3 cm of water in the field
during the reproductive phase
• Mechanical weeding 10 DAT

16. 8-10 Days (2 leaf stage) nursery Careful uprooting & transplanting Wider spacing(25X25cm)
Weeding with weeder Saturation of the field Use of Organics
Mahendrakumar et al. (2008)
The basic practices of SRI

17. Mechanical weeding
Transplanted SRI field

18. • Rice seedlings lose much of their growth potential if they
are transplanted more than about 15 days after they
emerge in their nursery
• Wide spacing of plants will lead to greater root
growth and accompanying tillering
In SRI method, young seedlings are placed at
shallow depth and therefore these seedlings
establish quickly. Whereas in the conventional
method 25-30 day old seedlings are pulled from
nursery and pushed deep into the puddled soil and
during the process the tips of roots face upward and
hence these require more time and energy to
establish in the soil
Norman Uphoff, 2005

19. Mahendrakumar et al. (2008)
DRR Technical Bulletin

20. Country Yield Increase over conventional
Philippines 100%
India 83%
Nepal 82%
Indonesia 78%
Cambodia 41%
china 29%
Vietnam 21%
FAO, 2007

21. MORE TILLERS AND > 400 GRAINS PER PANICLE

22. conventional practice v/s SRI methods
Conventional Practices
• 25-30 days seedlings
• Multiple seedlings
• Large plant population
• Paddies kept flooded
throughout the growing cycle
• Weeds are controlled by
flooding, hand weeding and
herbicides
SRI Methods
• 8-12 days old seedlings
• Single seedling
• Sparse plant population
• Soil aeration with AWD
• Weeds are controlled with a
rotary weeder

23. Comparison of dry matter in SRI v/s Conventionally
grown rice at different stages crop cycle
Tao (2004)

24. Grain yield increase with adoption of SRI
across the country
Mahendrakumar et al. (2008)

25. Water productivity as influenced by SRI v/s normal (flooded rice)
Water use decreased by 29% (SRI 79 Cum)
Water productivity increased by 20%
Viraktamath, 2007
Grain yield increase by 10% in SRI

26. Water (irrigation and rainfall) use and water productivity in SRI
and control rice crops
Gujja and Thiyagarajan, 2010
37.5 % 34.2 %

27. Impact of crop establishment techniques on grain yield and
water productivity of rice
Yield attributes
Conventional
Line planting
(20x10cm)
SRI planting
25 x 25 cm
Farmers practice
Random planting
No. of productive
tillers/ sq.m
424 520 408
Panicle weight (g) 3.52 4.05 3.52
test weight (g) 20.1 20.6 19.8
Grain yield
( kg/ha)
6423 7135 5949
Straw yield (kg/ha) 8927 9632 8626
B:C ratio 2.91 3.41 2.71
Total water used
(mm)
1421 1082 1421
WUE (kg/ha mm) 4.52 6.59 4.19
Muthukrishnan and Radhamani, 2011

28. Treatment
No. of
tillers/plant
No. of
productive
tiller/plant
Days to
flowering
Seed yield
(t/ha)
Benefit:
cost ratio
germination
Methods of cultivation (C)
C1–SRI 32.40 29.13 102.70 4.07 1.44 98.1
C2-traditional 15.92 8.14 106.70 3.68 1.14 97.3
Sem+ 0.01 1.34 0.40 0.20 0.05 0.5
C.D. @ 5% 0.06 8.15 2.40 0.06 0.15 NS
Spacings (S)
S1- 20x20 15.88 14.84 101.1 2.82 1.21 97.9
S2-30x30 28.33 32.55 101.6 3.41 1.47 97.6
S3-40x40 24.43 29.51 102.0 3.28 1.41 97.6
S.Em.+ 1.10 0.16 0.1 0.10 0.08 0.2
C.D. @ 5% 3.30 0.48 NS 0.33 0.23 NS
Evaluation of methods of cultivation and spacing on seed
yield and seed quality parameters in BPT-5204
Krishna et al. (2008)
Dharwad

29. Effect of rice establishment methods on growth, grain yield and
water productivity during post rainy season
Methods
Populati
on /sqm
Productive
tillers/hill
Grain
yield
Kg/ha
IW
used
(mm)
Total
Water
Used
(mm)
Water
Productiviy
Kg/ha-m
Line
planting
49.3 12.4 4430 996 1043 4.23
Random
planting
96.3 10.0 3970 1055 1102 3.60
SRI 16.0 17.5 5260 681 728 7.23
Marimuthu et al. (2011)

30. COST OF CULTIVATION (RS/ACRE): CONVENTIONAL
V/S SRI METHOD
Note : Price of paddy - Rs.5,600/t
Price of straw - Rs. 800/t Mahendrakumar et al. (2008)

31. Saving of 30 – 40% irrigation water
Saving of 85 % seed (2 kg / acre as against 25-30
kg/ acre in normal method)
Saving of chemical inputs
More healthy and tasty rice due to organic farming
practices
Better and higher yields with lower inputs
Crop duration reduced by 7-10 days due to
absence of transplanting shock

32. • Aerobic rice varieties
• Well drained
• Non puddled
• 4-6t/ha with 50% saving
irrigation water
• Uplands
• Undulating, rainfed lowlands
• Water-short irrigated low lands
Aerobic rice system

33. Benefits
Increased mycorrhizal association
Increased rhizobial association
Prolonged root activity
Higher water productivity
Long root development
Labour cost
Reduced nitrogen loss
Biofertilizers saves 20-30kg/ha of nitrogen fertilizers

34. Comparison of seasonal water requirement between
low land flooded rice and aerobic rice
Particulars Seasonal water requirement (mm)
Lowland rice Aerobic rice
Land preparation 150-300 100
Evaporation 200 100
Transpiration 400 400
Seepage and
percolation
500 335
Application loss 400 335
Total seasonal water
requirement (mm)
1650 935
Lampayan and Bouman, 2005

35. Water input and yield of aerobic rice varieties
under flooded and aerobic conditions
year Water
management
Water input Yield (t ha-1)
I IR HD502 HD297
2001 Flooded 1057 1351 6.8 5.4
Aerobic 350 644 5.3 4.7
2002 Flooded 900 1255 5.7 5.3
Aerobic 522 917 4.6 5.3
Bouman et al. (2007)

36. Direct seeding
 Shortage of labour & their
wage rate
 Increasing availability of
chemical weed control
methods
 Need to intensify rice
production systems
Direct-seeded rice save about 75 per cent of water along with
about 10 percent loss of yield
Johl, 2009

37. 1. Dry seeding
2. Wet seeding
3. Water seeding

38. Advantages
 Faster and easier planting
 Reduced labour and earlier crop maturity by 7–10 days
 More efficient water use and higher tolerance of water
deficit and less methane emission
Disadvantages
 Damage of surface-sown seeds by birds, rats and snails
 Desiccation of seeds exposed to direct sunlight or dry weather
 Increased lodging at maturity
 Severe competition from rapidly emerging weeds
 lower yield stability
 Higher pest and disease incidence because of dense canopy

39. • AWD is also called ‘intermittent irrigation’ or ‘controlled irrigation’
• Alternate flooding
• Compared with the traditional continuous flooding system, AWD using
lowland rice cultivars can reduce water input by 15-30% without yield loss
Field water tube from PVC Note
the holes on all sides
A Field tube under
Flooded conditions
Water at 15 cm depth:Time to
irrigate and flood the field again

40. KEY POINTS OF AWD
 Transplant young seedlings into puddled soil
 Install a PVC pipe with holes
 Start AWD at 10 DAT and allow the field to
dry out
 Re-flood the field to a standing water layer of 5
cm when the groundwater is 15-20 cm below
the soil surface
 Keep a standing water layer of 5 cm for 1 week
at flowering
 Continue AWD cycles after flowering until
harvest
 Scope for 10, 20, 25 and 30 cm with different
genotypes and different location

41. Water use efficiency under different irrigation
treatments
Treatments Total water use (cm) Average
total water
used (cm)
Water use
efficiency
(kg/ha/cm)
BRRIdhan
28
BRRIdhan
29
T1 112.20 122.20 117.2 58.53
T2 (10 cm) 92.20 97.20 94.7 69.48
T3 (20cm) 87.20 92.20 89.7 69.89
T4 (30cm) 82.20 87.20 84.7 69.19
Treatment details:
T1: continuous submergence (1 to 7 cm standing water)
T2, T3, T4: application of 5 cm irrigation water when water level in the pipe fell 10, 20 and 30
cm below the G.L., respectively.
Oliver et al., 2008

42. Water usage and water productivity of rice as influenced by
different systems of rice cultivation during kharif season
System of
rice
cultivation
No. of
irrigations
applied
Total water
Used
(cubic m/ha)
% Water saving
over
transplanted
rice
Grain yield
(kg/ha)
Transplanted
rice
33 16802 - 5732
SRI 27 14322 14.8 6014
AWD 23 13773 18.0 5376
Wet seeded
rice
39 15683 6.7 5175
Aerobic rice 24 9425 43.9 3582
Geethalakshmi et al. (2008)

43. Ground cover rice production system
Soil is constantly kept very
moist, but not flooded
Mulch- drying out and
developing deep cracks
Plastic sheet or pre-composted
straw
Checks the ET
Adds OM to soil

44. •The savings in irrigation water around 90 per cent in
Nanjing and up to 50 per cent in Beijing and Guangzhou
•This system reduced the significant nitrogen loss as a result
of volatalization of gaseous ammonia
Burkhard et al., 2005

45. Drip irrigation
• 25,000/acre
• 15 years life span
• 4.78
• 80% water reduction and 10% increase
in yield
Benefits:
• Increase in WUE
• Reduce the agrochemical application
by fertigation or chemigation
• Eliminates anaerobic decomposition
• Quality water can be delivered
Texas, Netafim

46. ..ResAlternate wetting and drying (AWD)--
using less water to grow rice - YouTube.mp4

47. Future line of work
• Awareness about rice is not aquatic plant
• Standardization of AWD
• Weed management in aerobic and AWD
• Scope for sprinkler and drip irrigation

50. Average yields, Water balance and water use efficiency
Parameters
Beijing Nanjing Guangzhou
Puddle Plastic Puddle Plastic Puddle Plastic
Yield in the experiment 8.75 5.57 9.57 8.52 9.53 8.23
Irrigation (mm) 3750 1275 1666 99 420 308
Precipitation (mm) 390 394 462 462 770 787
Runoff (mm) 0 0 0 0 471 518
Net input (I + P – R, mm) 4140 1669 2128 561 720 577
Daily water consumption based
on net input (mm d–1)
30.2 10.8 21.7 3.9 7.7 4.6
Water requirement based on
irrrigation (m3/kg)
4.55 2.22 1.75 0.12 0.50 0.43
Water requirement based on net
input (m3/kg)
5.02 2.90 2.23 0.66 0.86 0.80
WUE based on irrigation
(kg/m3)
0.25 0.45 0.57 8.56 2.02 2.35
WUE based on water
applied(kg/m3)
0.22 0.34 0.45 1.52 1.16 1.25
Lin et al. (2003)