Transcript Mitigating Measures - Groundwater Management

Water Saving in Rice
Cultivation
Rice cultivation
Rice is a water intensive crop. Preferably it is not grown in
areas with scarce groundwater resources
It remains popular because it is low risk, high yield
subsistence crop
As an intermediate solution there are some water saving
cropping systems that can be considered…
Water Saving Methods
Several water saving methods for rice cultivation exists.
Two examples:

System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Conservation Agriculture (Zero Tillage)
System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
A completely new method to grow
irrigated rice using substantially less
water
SRI – Some Principles

Early transplanting (8-12 days seedlings)

Careful transplanting (with seed,soil,root)

Wide spacing (25 X 25 cm spacing) -only one
plant/hill to preserve potential tillering and rooting

Weeding and aeration

Water Management (keeping the soil moist but not
saturated - Intermittent wetting)

Compost (Add 1.5 ton/ha of FYM +Fertilisers)
SRI – Some Principles

Fields are kept unflooded, moist and well aerated
throughout the vegetative growth

A thin layer of water (1-3 cm) in the field during
the reproductive phase

Wide spacing (25x 25 cm to 50x50 cm) and only
one plant/ hill

Early and frequent weeding
Some monitoring results from Andra Pradesh, India
Treat
Through
Through rainfall
Total
ments
irrigation (mm)
(mm)
(mm)
913
296
1209
730
296
1036
673
296
969
Tra
ditional
Wetting and
drying
SRI
Water application
SRI compared with other treatments
Treatments
Traditional
Wettin
g/
drying
SRI
6250
6580
8380
% increase of grain yield in
different treatments when
compared with farmers practice
-
5.0
34.0
Amount of water (mm) applied
during crop growth period
through irrigation
913
730
673
% of irrigation water saved in
different treatments when
compared with farmers practice
-
20
26
5.2
6.4
8.6
Parameters
Grain yield (kg/ha)
Water use efficiency (kg/ha
mm)
Conservation Agriculture
1.
Reduced/minimum soil disturbance,
2.
Reduced soil compaction,
3.
Residue management,
4.
Innovative cropping systems, cultivar
choices etc.
Reduced Soil Disturbance
Rice Fallows
Surface Seeding
Reduced Tillage: Direct Seeded Rice
Stale bed method
Reduced Soil Disturbance
Furrow irrigated raised beds
Rice
Laser Land Levelling

Increases irrigated area

Improves crop stand and yields

Additional field area added
Timely Planting: Higher Profits
Relation sowing date & yield for rice and wheat
8
120
6
December
1st week
80
Yield
4
60
optimum planting
time
40
2
20
0
May 24
0
June 8
June 23
July 8
Sowing date of rice in nursery
July 23
-----------Planting Time-----------
O
ct
.II
O I
ct
.IV
N
ov
.
N I
ov
.
N II
ov
.I
N II
ov
.IV
D
ec
.
D I
ec
.
D II
ec
.I
D II
ec
.IV
Ja
n.
Ja I
n.
II
t ha -1
100
November 2nd
week
Planting time, Wheat
Yield Loss: 35-67kg/day/ha
Reduce soil compaction: Zero-Till Technology
Paired Rows
ZT-Wheat
Controlled traffic-Paired Row
Controlled Traffic
Combination of controlled traffic
and paired rows also possible
Crop Residues Management
 Incorporation / surface retention of residues builds up soil
structure
 Residues when mulched provide a better habitat for
beneficial insects to proliferate.
Stubble shaved & dried
Anchored and loose straws in
combine harvested areas
Residues Burning
Brown Manuring in Direct Seeded Rice
No additional irrigation
water, 50% less weeds,
Supply 20Kg N, control
second flush of weeds
5574
72009
Economics of R-W system
72009
Cost
Zero-till rice is more profitable when
Gross return
Net return
preceding crop is also no-till planted
36435
35574
36435
78146
74327
47682
41181
33146
30464
Conservation Agriculture

Timely sowing

Higher yields

Better nutrient and water use efficiency

More diverse rotations

Prevent residue burning
Conservation Agriculture





Better crop stands
Lower costs
Less water pollution, less ground water
mining
Fewer weeds and pests
More C sequestration and better soil
health
Conclusion
Even in areas where there are considerable differences
between groundwater recharge and groundwater
exploitation several mitigating measures are possible to
restore the balance
Resource Conserving Technologies: A Paradigm
Shift for Transforming Agriculture
Raj K. Gupta, Regional Facilitator,
Rice-Wheat Consortium/ CIMMYT-India, New Delhi