Comparison of Rice Direct Seeding and Transplanting Methods under Different Irrigation Methods

In Golestan province, despite the lack of water resources, traditional rice cultivation, a crop with high water consumption, is increasing due to economic justification. This issue has become one of the main problems of the province's agricultural sector in recent years. In order to prepare the planting bed (puddled transplanting) in the traditional method of rice production, a significant amount of irrigation water is used before planting the seedlings in the main land. Moreover, the plant is in the water during the growing season, which causes high water losses by surface water evaporation and deep penetration. Rice direct seeding cultivation is a method that has been considered in the world for various reasons, including higher water productivity. Currently, reports indicate that more than 50% of groundwater resources are extracted and allocated annually for rice cultivation in the region investigated. In general, field information and observations indicate that the level of paddy cultivation is increasing in the province. In the past few decades, agricultural policymakers have sought to restrict and ban rice cultivation in the country, except in Gilan and Mazandaran provinces. The rationale behind this decision is high water consumption, declining groundwater aquifers and long-term instability of water resources. The developed strategy did not work effectively, as it did not consider the benefits of the farmers in the short run. The increasing trend in the area under paddy fields from 1995 to 1500 hectares per year shows the unsuccessfulness of this up-to-down strategy.

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of rice cultivation and irrigation methods on yield, water consumption and water productivity over two rice cropping seasons (2019–2020) in northern Iran (Gorgan Agricultural Research Station). Irrigation method as the main factor in four levels (permanent flooding, intermittent as wet and dry, sprinkler, tape) and cultivation method in three levels (direct seed in dry bed, non-puddled transplanting and traditional transplanting) in the form of a strip design. The plot was based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The applied water, yield and some yield components and water productivity were measured and calculated during the growing seasons.

The results showed that in all irrigation methods, yield was significantly reduced by changing the traditional seeding transplanting to dry seed. The amount of water applied in sprinkler and drip irrigation methods from traditional seedlings was significantly reduced as compared to direct seed seeding. Dry seed cultivation, however, consumed more water than traditional transplanting in the flood irrigation treatments (wet and dry and permanent). The highest yield (8206 kg/ha) was obtained for traditional seedling cultivation by flood irrigation, and no significant difference was observed between the yields for the other irrigation methods. In general, changing the irrigation systems had a greater effect on water consumption than changing the rice cultivation method. In addition, changing the cultivation method had a greater effect on changing the type of irrigation systems. In traditional transplanting cultivation, the yield decreased by about 14, 9 and 11%, respectively, by changing the irrigation systems from permanent flood irrigation to sprinkler, wet and dry, and drip irrigation. The highest water use was observed for flood irrigation method in direct seeding (12490 m3/ha) and direct transplanting (11967 m3/ha).

Currently, farmers cultivate rice by transplanting in padded land irrigated by flooding techniques in Golestan province, which results in high water consumption (about 13,000 m3/ha). By changing the irrigation method from flood irrigation to drip for traditional transplanting cultivation, water consumption decreased by about 39% and as a result water productivity increased by about 22%, albeit a 11% reduction in yield occurred. With the conversion of traditional transplanting seedling by flood irrigation to non-puddled transplanting by drip irrigation, the yield decreased by about 24% and the amount of water by about 45%, and water productivity in this case reached 0.9 kg/m3. This can be considered as the best alternative for conserving both water resources and production. If only reducing water consumption is the main priority (regardless of yield reduction), the best treatments are drip irrigation with direct seeding, non-puddled transplanting and then traditional seedling, respectively. If there is a sprinkler irrigation system in the field, this option is given priority in the direct seeding and non-puddled transplanting. If changing the irrigation system is not considered, the use of intermittent irrigation (as a wet and dry) with non-puddled transplanting, traditional methods and direct seeding are preferred, respectively.