Effect of Different Irrigation Methods on Rice Water Productivity

In order to evaluate the possibility and compare different irrigation methods in rice cultivation, an experiment was conducted in factorial based randomized complete block design at Rice Research Institute of Iran, Mazandaran (Amol), during 2011. Treatments were different irrigation regimes including alternate wet and drying (AWD), semi-dry cultivation (SDC), combining shallow water depth with wetting and drying (SWD) and traditional irrigation (TI); and two different cultivars, namely, Tarom and Fajr, as local and improved cultivars, respectively. Results of ANOVA indicated that different cultivars and irrigation methods were significantly different in terms of irrigation and total water productivity. SDC with 4042.5 m3ha-1 (nearly 54 percent water saving), irrigation water productivity of WPI= 1.68 kg m-3, and total water productivity of WPI+R=1.38 kg m-3 showed better performance as compared to the other irrigation regimes, especially compared to the traditional management (TI). In conclusion, regarding the better performance in water productivity, advanced irrigation methods (SDC, AWD and SWD, respectively) could be recommended for further investigations.