Impact of different crop establishment techniques on growth and yield of drought tolerant rice varieties

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important cereal and staple food of about 65% of the world’s population. It is cultivated under diverse ecologies ranging from irrigated to rainfed and upland to lowland conditions. Due to its semi-aquatic phylogenic origin, rice is mainly produced in water intensive system. However, because of climate change, competition for water with other crops and modernization, cereal crop production is becoming threatened by water shortage (Chhokar et al., 2017). Drought is predicted to increase in the future and efforts have been made to develop drought adapted rice varieties. However, genetic improvement had been slowed by the complex nature of drought and its strong interaction with environment. Understanding the stress physiology will be a vital asset for the mitigation of climate change impact in specific environment (FAO, 2004). Drought stress is highly damaging during the reproductive stage specifically during flowering, but even mild drought in other stages can also lead to huge loss (Liu et al, 2006). Around 50% of the land used for rice production is irrigated, 34% of total rice cropped area is rainfed low land, 9% is rainfed upland and 7% flooded system. Irrigated rice alone contributes 75% of the global rice production (IRRI, 2007).