Title: COMPARISON OF WATER SAVINGS OF PADDY RICE UNDER SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI) GROWING RICE IN MWEA, KENYA
Abstract: Rice is the greatest consumer of water among all crops and uses about 80% of the total irrigated freshwater resources. The high demand for rice in Kenya due to urbanization has led to increases in price. In Mwea, rice is grown under continuous flooding. This system of rice production depends on a continuous supply of water for irrigation and soils with high water holding capacities yet, the main rice growing season coincides with the low rainfall season. Thus, water rationing during this period is inevitable. To be able to meet the growing demand with the depreciating water resources sustainably, new innovative ways of rice crop production are needed. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a new innovation that offers an opportunity to reduce water demand accompanied by yield increase of rice. Field experiments were conducted in 2010/2011 at Mwea Irrigation Agricultural Development (MIAD) of Mwea Irrigation Scheme (MIS) during the main growing season (August 2010January 2011) to assess the effects on water savings for three varieties of rice grown under SRI versus CF. The results showed that SRI gave the highest savings on water, yields hence water productivity for all the three varieties. Yield increased by 0.6t/ha, 2t/ha and 1.5t/ha while water savings were 2528m 3 /ha, 2268m 3 /ha and 2846m 3 /ha for the Basmati 370, BW 196 and IR 2793-80-1 varieties, respectively. Similarly, calculations showed water productivity (kilograms of rice per cubic meter of irrigation water supplied) averaging 120% higher for the three varieties under SRI management (2.16 kg/m 3 vs. 0.98 kg/m 3 ).
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 35
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