Performances of Sheet-Pipe Typed Subsurface Drainage on Land and Water Productivity of Paddy Fields in Indonesia

Abstract

Subsurface drainage technology may offer a useful option in improving crop productivity by preventing water-logging in poor drainage paddy fields. The present study compared two paddy fields with and without sheet-pipe type subsurface drainage on land and water productivities in Indonesia. Sheet-pipe typed is perforated plastic sheets with a hole diameter of 2 mm and made from high-density polyethylene. It is commonly installed 30–50 cm below the soil surface and placed horizontally by a machine called a mole drainer, and then the sheets will automatically be a capillary pipe. Two fields were prepared, i.e., the sheet-pipe typed field (SP field) and the non-sheet-pipe typed field (NSP field) with three rice varieties (Situ Bagendit, Inpari 6 Jete, and Inpari 43 Agritan). In both fields, weather parameters and water depth were measured by the automatic weather stations, soil moisture sensors and water level sensors. During one season, the SP field drained approximately 45% more water compared to the NSP field. Thus, it caused increasing in soil aeration and producing a more significant grain yield, particularly for Inpari 43 Agritan. The SP field produced a 5.77 ton/ha grain yield, while the NSP field was 5.09 ton/ha. By producing more grain yield, the SP field was more effective in water use as represented by higher water productivity by 20%. The results indicated that the sheet-pipe type system developed better soil aeration that provides better soil conditions for rice.

A Model of Evapotranspirative Irrigation to Manage the Various Water Levels in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Its Effect on Crop and Water Productivities

“…Commonly, the lower the actual evapotranspiration, the lower the yield [18,60], according to the basic equation reported by van Lier et al [61]. However, several experiments showed different results [10,[62][63][64]. It seems there is an inconsistent correlation between crop coefficient and grain yield.…”

Sustainable Restoration of Degraded Farm Land by the Sheet-Pipe System

“…In the same field, the evaluation of the sheet-pipe system on the crop productivity was conducted based on the field investigation from 5 May to 6 August, 2018 as one rice season. At the SP-area, the grain yield with more than 13.36% was confirmed [12].…”

“…The first application of the sheet-pipe system was performed at the Indonesian Center for Rice Research, Sukamandi, West Java, Indonesia in 2018 as a pilot project [12,14]. The tested site is a paddy field with an area of 10,000 m 2 and the field was divided into two areas (i.e., as a sheet pipe installed area (SP-area) and non sheet pipe area (NSP-area)).…”

“…etc. [8][9][10][11][12], reports on the differences of the flow capacity between the sheet-pipe and the standard slotted PVC or flexible pipes have been very limited [13] and the hydraulic properties of the sheet-pipe system have not been clarified satisfactorily, especially on the flow capacity of the sheet-pipe when installed horizontally in the ground.…”

Experimental and numerical investigation of laboratory scale sheetpipe-typed automatic subsurface irrigation

“…Research showed that land with sheet pipe could increase the production up to 13% in a single trial of one rice planting season [4] although evapotranspiration was lower because the water level was maintained below the surface. For one year with rice-paddy-soybean and rice-paddy-paddy cropping patterns, the yield increased by 11.54% and 26.94% [5], respectively.…”