Water Management

• Maintain water level at about 1.5 cm during transplanting.
• Increase the level gradually to about 5 cm until maximum tillering stage.
• Drain water at 13 days before harvest.
• Draining and reflooding is recommended in every 15 days in areas (high acidity) where water for irrigation is assured.
• Aged seedlings of Mahsuri are recommended for waterlogged conditions in flood prone areas.
• Date of planting may be adjusted so as to avoid synchronization of the critical stages of maximum tillering / heading with the usual flood period in the tract .

Mundakan crop season

• 5 cm water level need not be maintained after the cessation of northeast monsoon.
• Irrigation of 5 cm once in 6 days will be adequate for project areas where water is assured.
• For summer rice (in situation where the ground water level is low, i.e.,within 1 m from the surface), 5 cm irrigation two days after disappearance of ponded water is sufficient.

Irrigation schedule for rice under limited water resources

• For summer rice under limited resources of water, phasic stress irrigation can be practiced to the advantage of saving substantial quantity of irrigation water without any significant reduction in yield.
• About 20-30% more area can be irrigated with the same water resources by adopting any of the following phasic stress irrigation schedules (given in table).
• Depending up on the schedule, water saving ranges from 24-36% of the requirement for 5 cm continuous submergence throughout the crop growth.
• Grain yield reduction in the above practice is only 0.1% to 1.6%.

Categories of irrigation schedule for rice