Abstract
The adoption of raised bed (RB)-furrow irrigation has expanded due to its ability to considerably conserve irrigation water for rice farming; nevertheless, selecting the appropriate bed size is crucial for maximizing crop yield and, ultimately, water productivity. In this regard, an experiment was conducted at the Field Irrigation Laboratory of the Bangladesh Agricultural University to investigate the effects of different furrow bed widths on rice yields and soil wetness, thereby providing insights into optimizing water-saving RB irrigation systems. Four irrigation treatments were tested, including three bed sizes (25 cm, 45 cm, and 65 cm) for RB irrigation and one for conventional flooding (CF) irrigation. Each treatment was replicated three times. Various attributes related to growth and yield, harvest index, water use efficiency (WUE), and water productivity were assessed. Additionally, a Darcy’s infiltration model was used to estimate seepage rates, and statistical analyses were performed to interpret the results. The study revealed significant differences in growth parameters, with CF and RB45 showing better performance compared to RB25 and RB65 in terms of panicle length, total tillers per hill, and filled grains per panicle. RB45 yielded the highest grain yield (4.96 ± 0.12 t ha−1) among the treatments, highlighting the importance of filled grains per panicle in determining grain yield. RB45 also exhibited the highest WUE (0.050 ± 0.01 t ha−1 cm−1) and water productivity (0.5 ± 0.01 kg m−3), outperforming CF. RB techniques saved up to 33.50% more irrigation water compared to CF, showcasing their water-saving potential. The Darcy’s infiltration model provided reasonable estimates of seepage rates, with mean coefficient of determination values ranging from 0.2940 to 0.3651. However, it was acknowledged that there were challenges and uncertainties associated with field measurements. In conclusion, this study highlights the effectiveness of RB irrigation techniques, particularly RB45, in improving rice yields, water use efficiency, and water productivity while conserving irrigation water. The findings suggest that the choice of bed size is crucial for optimizing yield and water productivity under specific field conditions. Future research efforts should concentrate on enhancing measurement techniques and accounting for spatial variations in hydraulic properties to improve the predictive accuracy of furrow seepage models, considering the dynamic nature of furrow irrigation systems.
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Acknowledgements
The research work was supported by a research project (SD2019931) funded by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Bangladesh. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions on the manuscript.
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Conceptualization contributed by [THM, MTI]; Methodology contributed by [THM, MTI]; Formal analysis and investigation contributed by [THM]; Writing—original draft preparation contributed by [THM, MTI, MMR]; Writing—review and editing contributed by [MAI, SD, ND, JA]; Funding acquisition contributed by [AKMA]; Supervision contributed by [AKMA].
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Munmun, T.H., Islam, M.T., Rahman, M.M. et al. Rice cultivation under raised bed conserving irrigation technique: effects of bed width on soil wetness and yield. Paddy Water Environ 22, 125–137 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-023-00957-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-023-00957-3