Suitability of Sprinkler and Drip Irrigation in Transplanted and Direct Seeded Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Haryana, India

On-farm trials on rice crop were conducted at farmer field over a span of three years (2018, 2019 and 2020) to assess the effectiveness of micro-irrigation methods (specifically drip and sprinkler irrigation) on water usage and crop yield in rice cultivation. The aim was to compare these methods with the conventional surface irrigation (flooding) method both in transplanted (manually or mechanically) and direct seeded rice so as to determine the feasibility of micro-irrigation in rice to tackle the problem of groundwater depletion in Haryana. In transplanted rice (TPR), grain yield obtained with drip and sprinkler irrigation was statistically similar to that obtained with conventional method. But the yield of direct seeded rice (DSR) increased significantly (15.1- 21.1% increase) when it was irrigated by drip or sprinkler methods than by conventional method. The yield of DSR was significantly lower than that of TPR when it was irrigated by conventional surface flooding method but the DSR yielded at par with TPR when irrigated by drip or sprinkler method. The grain yield of the crop obtained with drip and sprinkler irrigation was at par, irrespective of the crop establishment techniques. Over the conventional irrigation, the drip and sprinkler irrigation saved 54.4-57.2% and 47.4-49.0% of irrigation water, respectively in TPR whereas the saving of irrigation water over the conventional method in DSR was 52.5-53.9% and 38.3-39.3%, respectively. Irrespective of establishment techniques, the highest water use efficiency was achieved with drip irrigation (6.73-9.46 kg/ha/mm), followed by sprinkler irrigation (5.66-7.85 kg/ha/mm) whereas it was the lowest with the conventional irrigation (3.28-3.55 kg/ha/mm). It is evident from the findings that it is feasible to adopt sprinkler irrigation in rice (both in TPR and DSR) as it saved substantial quantity of irrigation water without any penalty in yield and net profit in TPR and even increased the yield and net profit in DSR over the conventional irrigation method. Therefore, sprinkler irrigation can be an effective strategy to manage the depletion of groundwater in Haryana. On the other hand, the drip irrigation, despite saving more water and being comparable to the sprinkler irrigation in respect of its effect on yield, may not be economically viable due to its higher initial cost.