Effect of Drought and Irrigation Management on Two Rice Mutants of Bangladesh

Drought stress is a major constraint to the sustainable production of of crops. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is considered as a drought-sensitive crop species. The experiment was carried out to investigate the response of two rice mutants to drought condition and to develop appropriate irrigation management. Experiment was conducted at mini-lysimeter (1.5 m x 1.0 m x 0.28 m, having drainage outlet and rain-shed) at BINA, Mymensingh in Aman season (August to October, 2017) and Aus season (March to June, 2018) consecutively. The mutants used were N4/250/P-1(2) and N4/250/P-2(6)-26. The mutants were tested against four levels of drought stress. The imposed treatments were: Normal irrigation (3 days AWD), supplemental irrigation (ASM drops below 85%, throughout the growing season), irrigation at 0.85 ASM (up to booting stage) then irrigation at 0.60 PASM, irrigation at 0.85 ASM (throughout the growing season). Treatments were imposed after 3 weeks from transplanting. Experiment was laid out according to random complete block design (RCBD) with split-plot arrangements and three replications. The results showed that the mutants produced reasonable yield under stress condition compared to normal irrigation condition, which indicates their tolerance capacity under drought condition. Rice drought tolerance could help the country deal with the shortages in water that are facing Bangladesh farmers already.