Effect of Water Deficits on Rice (Oryza sativa) Cultivars Yield Performance

The experiment was conducted at the screen house of the Department of Biological Science, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Yelwa Campus, Bauchi State, Nigeria, located at 10° 16’ 52'' N, 9° 19’’ longitude and latitude. From June 2021 to September 2021. The objective of this experiment is to identify rice cultivars with high yield potential and stability under water deficit conditions among the selected rice cultivars. A total of thirteen rice cultivars for the research were randomly collected. Using Microsoft Excel, the entire experiment was randomized in a completely randomized block design (CRBD) with four replications. The seedlings of each cultivar that germinated from the petri dish were placed in two of each in 30-cm plastic pots with drainage holes at the bottom, and 1.5 kg of soil was added to each pot. The seedlings were then thinned to one per pot. All seedlings were given continuous flooding for 28 days after sowing (DAS) to slightly above soil saturation. Adequate irrigation was maintained for the control treatments (CF), while irrigation was withheld until the soil moisture reduces in the drought stress treatments (WD). Irrigation was resumed on the water deficit treatments after some days, and continuous alternate wetting and drying were maintained in the water deficit treatment up to rice maturity. Compound fertilizer (NPK 15-15-15) corresponding to 200 kg/ha-1 applications (2 weeks after transferring to the pots and at the panicle initiation stage) and application of urea 45 DAP. The results showed that FARO 38, FARO 45, FARO 52, and FARO 64 have high yield potential and stability under water stress experiments among the thirteen rice cultivars randomly selected.