Irrigation management techniques with anaerobic baffled reactor effluent: effect on rice growth, yield and water productivity

Abstract

Abstract The study evaluated the effect of irrigation management techniques using anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) effluent on the growth and yield of rice. It was hypothesized that irrigation techniques with ABR effluent have a significant effect on the growth, yield of rice, water productivity (WP) and water balance (WB). The experimental setup was a randomized complete block design for 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons, three treatments each with three replications. The treatments were alternating wetting and drying (AWD), continuous flooding irrigation (CFI) and wetting without flooding (WWF). The effect of irrigation management techniques was significant (P < 0.05) for the 2017 season but insignificant (P > 0.05) in 2018 on the yield. The effect of irrigation treatments on WP was significant (P < 0.05). The effects were not significant (P > 0.05) on the plant height, leave area index (LAI) and number of tillers per plant. However, the effect was significant (P < 0.05) on the number of panicles per plant. The effects of irrigation treatments were significant (P < 0.05) on number of irrigation, amount of irrigation, total water use and daily field WB. In conclusion, the result proved the acceptability of the hypothesis. AWD irrigation with ABR effluent should be encouraged among rice farmers.