Study on energy consumption of various rice establishment methods and water management practices in tank irrigated command area

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, during summer 2019 to find out energy efficient rice establishment methods under irrigation management strategy. Field experiment comprised of four establishment methods in main plot viz., conventional transplanting (M1), machine transplanting under puddled soil (M2), machine transplanting under unpuddled soil (M3) and sowing with seed drill (M4). The sub plot consisted of 4 irrigation management practices viz., farmers’ irrigation practice (continuous submergence of 5 cm throughout the crop period) (I1), Irrigation after formation of hairline crack (I2), irrigation when water level reaches 5 cm below soil surface (I3) and irrigation when water level reaches 10 cm below soil surface (I4). Medium duration fine grain rice variety TKM 13 was used for the study. Result of the study revealed that among the rice establishment methods higher energy output, net energy production, energy ratio and profitability was observed under machine transplanting under unpuddled soil. Among the irrigation management practices, irrigation after formation of hairline crack (I2) observed higher energy output and net energy production; whereas, energy ratio, energy productivity, energy intensity and B:C ratio were higher with irrigation when water level reaches 5 cm below soil surface (I3). This study concluded that machine transplanting under unpuddled soil combined with irrigation when water level reaches 5 cm below soil surface can be recommended as the suitable technology for the farmers of tank irrigated command area to get higher output energy with minimum use of input energy and also to obtain higher profit.