Developing and disseminating resilient rice cultivars with increased productivity is a key solution to the problem of limited natural resources such as land and water. We investigated trends in rice cultivation areas and the overall production in Egypt between 2000 and 2018. This study identified rice cultivars that showed potential for high productivity when cultivated under limited irrigation. The results indicated that there were significant annual reductions in both the rice-cultivated area (−1.7% per year) and the production (−1.9% per year) during the study period. Among the commonly cultivated varieties, Sakha101 showed the highest land unit productivity, while Sakha102 showed the highest water unit productivity. The impact of deploying new cultivars was analyzed by substitution scenarios. The results showed that substituting cultivars Giza179 and Sakha107 has the potential to increase land productivity by 15.8% and 22.6%, respectively. This could result in 0.8 million m3 in water savings compared to 2018 water consumption. Long-term impacts of climate variability on the minimum and maximum temperature, relative humidity, and average precipitation during on- and off-season for rice productivity were also analyzed using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The results indicated that climate variability has an overall negative impact on rice productivity. Specifically, minimum temperature and on- and off-season precipitation had major long-term impacts, while higher relative humidity had a pronounced short-term impact on rice yields. The study revealed that short-duration cultivars with higher yields provided greater net savings in irrigation resources. These analyses are critical to guide the development of strategic management plans to mitigate short- and long-term climate effects on overall rice production and for developing and deploying improved rice varieties for sustainable rice production.
Anhydrous ammonia is a cheaper source of nitrogen (N) fertiliser than granular urea for rice production, but it is not widely used in developing countries. It can only be applied pre-crop with any in-crop applications being applied in the form of urea. This 2-year study conducted in the Nile delta region of Egypt compared pre-crop anhydrous ammonia injected to a depth of 20 cm with broadcast urea as N sources for rice, along with 4 combinations of pre-crop ammonia and in-crop urea. Each treatment supplied a total of 165 kg N/ha. The rice crop was direct seeded rather than transplanted. The highest yields were achieved in the full anhydrous ammonia treatment, which yielded 53% more grain than the nil-N control, while the full urea treatment yielded 22% more than the control; most combination treatments were intermediate. The higher grain yield of the anhydrous ammonia treatment was through a higher panicle density per unit area and more filled grains per panicle. An economic analysis found that the anhydrous ammonia treatment had a net return 70–94% higher than supplying the same quantity of N as urea. Counts of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes showed a decline by day 2 after injection of anhydrous ammonia, followed by an increase to numbers similar to or above pre-injection levels by day 5. The findings indicated that pre-crop anhydrous ammonia in rice is both economically promising and not deleterious to soil microbes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.