1Department of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal, India
Rice plays a pivotal role in food security and global agricultural economy. Rice production sustainability to be assured and accelerated for feeding burgeoning population on the backdrop of scarce water resources. Flooded rice requires 900-2250 mm of water which leads to increasing water shortage. The rice production sustainability is threatened due to arsenic calamity and emission of greenhouse gases causing global warming. Aerobic rice culture technology is paradigm shift in rice production to increase water and crop productivity under the backdrop of shrinking water resource base requiring less water and the crop is grown non flooded or saturated with an added advantage of 50-80% lesser emission of methane. Significant differences in energy balance and evapo-transpiration, water productivity indicates that aerobic rice is one of the promising water saving technologies being developed to lower the water requirement of the rice crop to address the issue of water scarcity in tropical agriculture. Literature reveals that radiation use efficiency (RUE) in aerobic culture is comparable to or higher than that in flooded culture. Water inputs in aerobic rice are 50% lower (only 470 mm -650 mm), 64-80% higher water productivities, 28-44% lower gross return, 55% lower labor use than flooded rice. But, micronutrient deficiencies especially Fe and Mn due to change in soil redox potential, infestation of root knot nematodes and interaction of biotic-abiotic stresses, increasing soil pH and high weed pressure led to yield failure or severe yield penalty in some cases. Grain yield reduction up to 25% or more has been reported by aerobic crop. This article reviews the possible interventions and modifications in morphological and physiological traits, appropriate breeding strategies for development of ideotype for aerobic situation on nutrient and weed management, water productivity and bio-energetics for sustaining rice production for immediate future to avert water scarcity and ensure food security.
Aerobic rice, Allometric slope, Eddy Covariance, Energy balance, Fe deficiency, Root knot nematode, Scarce water resources, Weed pressure
