Growth, yield and silicon uptake of rice (Oryza sativa) as influenced by dose and timing of silicon application under water-deficit stress

Nitrogen fertiliser and establishment method affect growth, yield and nitrogen use efficiency of rice under alternate wetting and drying irrigation

“…For TP, 14‐day‐old seedlings raised on nursery trays were transplanted into pots containing well‐prepared puddled and saturated soil. To avoid treatment loss, initially three seeds/seedlings were planted in all pots, but later two seedlings were removed from each pot (21 DAS) and only one plant was allowed to grow (Santiago‐Arenas, Hadi, Fanshuri, Ullah, & Datta, ; Ullah, Luc, et al, ; Ullah, Mohammadi, & Datta, ; Ullah, Rahimi, & Datta, ). Soil moisture potential was monitored with the help of permanently installed Tensiometers (Model 2725 ARL Jet Fill Tensiometer, Soil moisture Equipment Corp., CA) for the whole crop duration.…”

“…Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is the major source of daily calorie intake for almost half of the global population and a steady increase in demand is evident because of rapid population growth (Ullah, Datta, Shrestha, & Ud Din, ; Ullah, Luc, Gautam, & Datta, ). With more people to feed in the coming decades, innovative ways to produce more food, especially rice, using less water inputs are necessary (Bouman, ) as rice consumes a large amount of freshwater (Ullah & Datta, ).…”

“…Therefore, sustainable rice cultivation practices with less water, labour and energy demand are needed to reduce inputs, maximise yield, increase profitability and conserve the natural resource base without compromising environmental health. The direct seeding (DS) establishment method and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation are among such practices (Datta et al, ; Ullah et al, ; Ullah & Datta, ; Ullah, Luc, et al, ; Ullah, Mohammadi, & Datta, ). These practices can save water and maintain or increase rice yield.…”

“…DS could be: (a) dry DS (DDS) where dry seeds are directly sown into nonpuddled soil, (b) wet DS (WDS) where seeds after pre‐germination (overnight soaking and draining after sprouting) are sown into wet and puddled soil and (c) water seeding where dry seeds are sown into standing water (Datta et al, ; Kumar & Ladha, ; Liu et al, ). AWD irrigation is another extensively adopted water‐saving approach, which saves water use in paddy fields (Bouman & Tuong, ), reduces water inputs and increases water productivity compared with CF (Lampayan et al, ; Liu et al, ; Maneepitak et al, ; Ullah & Datta, ; Ullah, Datta, Samim, & Ud Din, ; Ullah, Luc, et al, ; Ullah, Mohammadi, & Datta, ; Wang et al, ). In AWD irrigation, the soil is flooded with irrigation water to a depth of 2–5 cm and the water table is allowed to drop below the soil surface to a certain level before re‐applying irrigation water (Lampayan et al, ).…”

“…In AWD irrigation, the soil is flooded with irrigation water to a depth of 2–5 cm and the water table is allowed to drop below the soil surface to a certain level before re‐applying irrigation water (Lampayan et al, ). The effect of AWD irrigation on rice production is still debatable; variations were observed in grain yield response, and both an increase (Carrijo et al, ; Ullah, Luc, et al, , Ullah, Mohammadi, & Datta, , Ullah, Datta, et al, ; Maneepitak et al, ) and a decrease (Bouman & Tuong, ; Xu et al, ) have been documented. This variation in grain yield under AWD irrigation has been attributed to method of implementation of the water management regime, severity of drought imposed by longer drying periods in AWD, soil moisture monitoring methodology, rice cultivar, soil, and weather conditions of the experimental site as well as nutrient management practices.…”