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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #174368
Title: MULTIPLE INLET APPROACH TO REDUCE WATER REQUIREMENTS FOR RICE PRODUCTION

Author
item Vories, Earl
item TACKER, PHIL - U OF AR COOP EXT SVC
item HOGAN, ROBERT - U OF AR COOP EXT SVC

Submitted to: Applied Engineering in Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/7/2005
Publication Date: 9/1/2005
Citation: Vories, E.D., Tacker, P.L., Hogan, R. 2005. Multiple inlet approach to reduce water requirements for rice production. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 21(4):611-616.

Interpretive Summary: With flooded rice culture, water usually fills the highest paddy first, and then as each paddy is filled, water flows over into lower paddies. However, that makes it quite difficult to know exactly how much water to pump so that all paddies are filled without losing any from the lowest paddy. We found that an alternative method, multiple-inlet irrigation, would save water and produce the same or slightly better yields. In multiple-inlet irrigation, a pipe is run through the field and holes are placed so that each paddy is concurrently watered instead of receiving overflow from a higher paddy. Saving water means saving diesel fuel and reducing irrigation costs. The irrigation water use efficiency, or the grain produced divided by irrigation water applied, was more than one-third greater with multiple-inlet than with conventional flooding. Rice producers will benefit from the lower costs associated with reduced irrigation requirements from multiple inlet rice irrigation. In addition, the reduction in water required for irrigation and the corresponding reduction in diesel fuel used for pumping the water will conserve both of the resources for other uses.

Technical Abstract: Traditional flooded rice production consists of a well or riser in the highest-elevation portion of the field, and water spills into lower paddies as the upper paddies are filled. In an alternative method, known as multiple-inlet irrigation, rather than discharging directly into the highest paddy, a pipe is connected and gates or holes water each paddy concurrently instead of each receiving overflow from a higher paddy. The objective of this research was to investigate whether a multiple-inlet approach would result in less water being pumped for rice production than conventional flooding, when applied on production-scale fields by the regular farm employees. On-farm water use studies were conducted during the 1999 through 2002 growing seasons. The studies consisted of 14 paired fields located close together, with the same cultivar, soil type, planting date, and management practices. One field was randomly assigned as a conventionally flooded field and the other was assigned as multiple-inlet rice irrigation. Flowmeters were installed in the inlets to both fields and the farmers provided yield data. The multiple-inlet method required 24% less irrigation water than conventional flooding and produced 3% more yield and 36% higher irrigation water use efficiency than conventional flooding. These findings can lead to easing the groundwater shortages being experienced in Arkansas and other rice-producing areas.