Abstract

Rice, as the main food produced in Asia, requires more water than the other cereals. Flooded irrigation, the most common method of irrigation in rice, results high water losses and emits more greenhouse gases. Changes in climate, decrease in water resources and arable lands, necessitates the water productivity increasing strategies for rice. Soil matric potential based irrigation is such a strategy to irrigate rice under these conditions. This paper presents an experiment carried out inside a climate chamber to assess the water productivity of Bg300 rice variety using above approach. Three irrigation treatments; flooded treatment with a ponding water depth of 3cm and treatments with soil matric potentials at -150mbar and -300mbar were imposed in three large containers. Soil matric potentials were maintained using tensiometers installed at a depth of 20cm. Treatment at -150mbar showed best performance in terms of yield, water productivity and water savings. This strategy is transferable to a wide range of locations under different climates and reduces time for many field experiments.