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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316681
Title: Using variable rate irrigation to determine optimal irrigation schedule for aerobic rice production

Author
item Vories, Earl
item STEVENS, WILLIAM - University Of Missouri

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2015
Publication Date: 11/9/2015
Citation: Vories, E.D., Stevens, W. 2015. Using variable rate irrigation to determine optimal irrigation schedule for aerobic rice production. Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Irrigation, November 10–12, 2015, Long Beach, California. Paper No. 152143363. doi: 10.13031/irrig.20152143363.

Interpretive Summary: Rice is an important food crop all over the world. Because almost all U.S. rice is produced with flood irrigation, little information addresses irrigation scheduling for rice. However, sprinkler irrigation can allow economical rice production on soils that are not suited to flooded production. Successful production of rice without a continuous flood will require timely irrigation and a field study was conducted by ARS and university scientists at the University of Missouri Fisher Delta Research Center during the 2013 and 2014 growing seasons to investigate sprinkler irrigated rice production. Although the findings suggest that sprinkler irrigated rice performed equally well under a range of irrigation management, problems were encountered during the study and additional research is needed to validate the trends and develop improved guidelines for producers. Producing rice with sprinkler irrigation can allow farmers in the US and elsewhere to produce rice more economically and the resultant water savings will benefit everyone.

Technical Abstract: Because almost all U.S. rice is produced with flood irrigation, little information addresses irrigation scheduling for rice; however, successful production of rice without a continuous flood will require timely irrigation. A field study was conducted at the University of Missouri Fisher Delta Research Center Marsh Farm during the 2013 and 2014 growing seasons to investigate sprinkler irrigated rice. The study was set up in a split plot arrangement with three replications. Whole plot treatments were two irrigation timings (MAD1, MAD2) and subplot treatments were three VRI % application settings. The growing seasons had similar temperatures; however, 2013 had more rainfall. Seven fewer irrigations were applied to the MAD2 plots in 2013 but the larger applications resulted in similar total application amounts. Neither main effect was significant for yield but there was a significant interaction. The % application main effect was significant for irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) and there was a significant interaction. Eleven fewer irrigations were applied to the MAD2 plots in 2014 but the larger applications again resulted in similar total application amounts. Neither main effect was significant for yield, nor was the interaction. The % application main effect was significant for IWUE; however, there was no significant interaction. Although the findings suggest that sprinkler irrigated rice performed equally well under a range of irrigation management, problems were encountered during the study and additional research is needed to validate these trends and develop improved guidelines for producers.