Performance of improved water management technology on rice grown in the Chambal command area of South-Eastern Rajasthan

Abstract

On farm demonstrations were conducted during kharif seasons of 2011 to 2015 at farmer's field in
Chambal command area of Rajasthan under Operational Research Programme of Agricultural
Research Station, Kota to study the impact of improved water management technology on the water
productivity and sustainability of rice. Treatments comprised irrigation of 5±2 cm standing water
and refilling at 1-3 days after disappearance of ponded water which was compared with the farmers
practice (FP) i.e. continuous submergence. Results revealed that improved water management
technology gave higher and sustainable yield of rice over the years. The mean grain yield (4,506
kg/ha), production efficiency (34.7 kg/ha/day) and crop monetary efficiency (` 884/ha/day)
recorded under IWMT being 7.5, 7.8 and 8.33 per cent higher as compared to the farmers practice,
respectively. Mean sustainability yield index (0.932) and sustainability value index (0.913) were
found 4.04 and 5.18 percent higher under IWMT in comparison to FP, respectively. Mean water
expanse efficiency (89.0 kg/ha-cm), water use efficiency (36.7 kg/ha-cm), water profitability (9.45
`/M3) and incremental cost benefit ratio (6.4) observed were also better in IWMP than farmers
practice.