Water consumption, grain yield, and water productivity in response to field water management in double rice systems in China

Xiao Hong Wu; Wei Wang; Chun Mei Yin; Hai Jun Hou; Ke Jun Xie; Xiao Li Xie

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189280

Water consumption, grain yield, and water productivity in response to field water management in double rice systems in China

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 7;12(12):e0189280. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189280. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Xiao Hong Wu¹, Wei Wang², Chun Mei Yin², Hai Jun Hou², Ke Jun Xie³, Xiao Li Xie²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China.
² Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.
³ Hunan Agricultural Resources and Environmental Protection Management Station, Changsha, Hunan, China.

Abstract

Rice cultivation has been challenged by increasing food demand and water scarcity. We examined the responses of water use, grain yield, and water productivity to various modes of field water managements in Chinese double rice systems. Four treatments were studied in a long-term field experiment (1998-2015): continuous flooding (CF), flooding-midseason drying-flooding (F-D-F), flooding-midseason drying-intermittent irrigation without obvious standing water (F-D-S), and flooding-rain-fed (F-RF). The average precipitation was 483 mm in early-rice season and 397 mm in late-rice season. The irrigated water for CF, F-D-F, F-D-S, and F-RF, respectively, was 263, 340, 279, and 170 mm in early-rice season, and 484, 528, 422, and 206 mm in late-rice season. Grain yield for CF, F-D-F, F-D-S, and F-RF, respectively, was 4,722, 4,597, 4,479, and 4,232 kgha-1 in early-rice season, and 5,420, 5,402, 5,366, and 4,498 kgha-1 in late-rice season. Compared with CF, F-D-F consumed more irrigated water, which still decreased grain yield, leading to a decrease in water productivity by 25% in early-rice season and by 8% in late-rice season. Compared with F-D-F, F-D-S saved much irrigated water with a small yield reduction, leading to an increase in water productivity by 22% in early-rice season and by 26% in late-rice season. The results indicate that CF is best for early-rice and FDS is best for late-rice in terms of grain yield and water productivity.

MeSH terms

Agricultural Irrigation / methods*
China
Crops, Agricultural*
Oryza*
Seasons
Water*

Substances

Water

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 41401292) to WW (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/); International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (grant number 2015DFA90450) to WW (http://www.istcp.org.cn/) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41503081) to XHW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.