Effect Of Different Irrigation Intervals On Direct Seeded Rice In Salt Affected Soil

Abstract

Pakistan has been ranked one of the most water stressed countries due to the combined effects of escalating freshwater shortages, and severe alterations in weather patterns. Therefore, the water available for agriculture is facing enormous pressure, posing a serious threat to agricultural production and food security. Hence, the systematic investigation of sustainable and environment friendly irrigation approaches has become a vital research domain for optimizing water productivity, enhancing agricultural production, and ensuring food security. Consequently, a field experiment was conducted over two successive growing seasons in 2019, and 2020 to evaluate the effects of four irrigation intervals (4, 6, 8 and 10 days) on growth, yield and water use efficiency of the direct seeded rice cultivated in saline sodic soils. The results showed that the maximum plant height, number of tillers, panicle length, grain/panicle, 1000- grain weight and straw yield were observed under 8 days irrigation interval. During the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons, the highest paddy yields (3.18 t ha⁻¹ and 3.28 t ha⁻¹, respectively) and water use efficiency (2.45 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹ and 2.64 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹, respectively) were achieved with an 8-day irrigation interval. In conclusion, 8-day irrigation interval is the optimal schedule for obtaining maximum rice grain yield, and water productivity, thereby representing a viable water-saving strategy for Pakistani cropping systems.