Nutrient runoff and rice yield in rice paddies under different water management regimes

Climate change is causing a variety of environmental issues globally, and the frequency and intensity of droughts in the country are expected to increase.This has heightened the importance of managing agricultural water resources and necessitated the adoption of more efficient farming practices.In this study, we evaluated water inflow, outflow, nutrient concentration, and rice yield under continuous flooding (CF), alternate wetting and drying (AWD) in paddy soils with two different soil textures.AWD proved effective in saving water, as it increased rainfall infiltration and reduced irrigation water input compared to CF.Specifically, in silty clay loam (SiCL) soils, AWD resulted in less water and nutrient outflow than CF.Rice yields increased by 16.4% under AWD compared to CF in SiCL soils, and by 31.9% in sandy loam (SL) soils.These results suggest that water management practices can help mitigate the impact of climate change on irrigation water shortages and increase rice yields across various soil textures compared to conventional farming practices.