Selecting A Smart Cropping System: Field Trial Evidences of Rice Cultivars in Northern Iran

Abstract

The plant growth and productivity are associated with the interaction between the genetic potential and environmental factors. But, in recent decades most of the agricultural researches have focused on modifying the genetic potential of the cultivars and, less attention has been paid to the cultivation practices and production systems. The benefits of this strategy have diminished by increasing the economic costs and environmental damage arising from the chemical input-dependent approach. Therefore, the present study was aimed to determine the optimum condition in crop growing environment by increasing the productivity and reducing the chemical input application in rice production. Hence, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the cropping systems used for local rice cultivars in Iran in 2017 and 2018. Planting systems including and the cultivars were chosen as the first and second factors, respectively. Results revealed that grain NPK content, NPK harvest index and NPK use efficiency are positively associated with the paddy yield. Hence, the high-input and conventional systems resulted in an increase in the quantitative yield, but the organic and transition to organic systems led to higher WUE over both years than other systems. Also, WP was higher in the conventional system than other systems.