International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710&E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 9, Issue 10, 2017 || Bioinfo Publications || 3993 Research Article CULTIVATION OF WATER SAVING RICE INDUCED SUBMERGENCE TOLERANCE IN FLOOD PLAIN OF THE RIVER MAHANADI IN EASTERN COASTAL ALLUVIUM DWIBEDI SANAT KUMAR*AND DASH ABHIRAM Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India *Corresponding Author: Email-sanatdwibedi@rediffmail.com Received: February 09, 2017; Revised: February 12, 2017; Accepted: February 13, 2017; Published: February 28, 2017 Citation: Dwibedi Sanat Kumar and Dash Abhiram (2017) Cultivation of Water Saving Rice Induced Submergence Tolerance in Flood Plain of the River Mahanadi in Eastern Coastal Alluvium. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences, ISSN: 0975-3710 & E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 9, Issue 10, pp.-3993-3996. Copyright: Copyright©2017 Dwibedi Sanat Kumar and Dash Abhiram. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credit ed. Academic Editor / Reviewer: Dr Eleonora Nistor Introduction A set of water-saving rice cultivation management practices popularly known as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has been introduced from Madagascar to many countries including India. It changes in management practices by planting of very young seedlings singly in a square pattern, maintaining non-flooded soil rhizosphere up to panicle initiation through alternate wetting and drying, mechanical weeding, and much stress to organic nutrient and plant protection measures [1]. The benefits of SRI and Modified SRI (MSRI) in terms of water saving, nutrient uptake and productivity compared to the continuous flooded Best Management Practices (BMP) with respect to the production efficiency of water and nutrient in flood, drought and cyclone affected coastal agro-ecological situations under assured irrigation system during wet season are well established [2 and 3]. In this paper the research results of the comparative performance of rice crop genotypes under complete submergence in the flood plain of the river Mahanadi in the coastal alluvium nearby the Bay of Bengal. Materials and Methods Experimental site The present experiment was conducted during kharif 2008 at Ranitola village of Tirtol block of Jagatsinghpur district in east and south east coastal plain zone of Odisha, India (86 0 23’ E longitude, 20 0 19’ N latitude) at 25.6 km air distance from the Bay of Bengal at east and 14.0 m above the mean sea level in warm and moist climate [4] in moderately acidic (5.8 to 6.0) clay loam alluvium with medium availability of N, P2O5 [5] and K2O and high organic carbon (0.81% to 0.89%) and electrical conductivity (0.97 to 0.99 dS m -1 ). The mean annual rainfall at the site was observed to be 1,333.9 mm and nearly 62.0% of rainfall was being received between June and October (827.0 mm). The monsoon usually sets in around mid June and recedes by first week of October. July and August are wettest months. Experimental design and treatments The experiment was originally planned to find out the effects of three dates of sowing and three systems of cultivation of two genotypes of rice for the doctoral programme of the author. The three dates of sowing (main plots) were 20 June, 5 and 20 July; three systems of cultivation (sub plots) of rice were Best Management Practice (BMP), System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Modified SRI (MSRI); and two medium duration rice genotypes (sub sub plots) i.e. high yielding variety (HYV) ‘Pratikshya’ (ORS 201-5, IET-15191) and hybrid ‘Ajay’ (CRHR-7, IET 18166). The experiment was carried out in a split-split plot design with 18 treatment combinations replicated thrice. However, after planting of the two rice genotypes as mentioned above, the crop field was completely submerged under turbid water for about 8 days from 19 September 2008 onwards [Photo-1.c. to 1.f.] due to heavy down pour at the upper catchment area of the mighty river Mahanadi. The agronomic practices thus followed for the management of the crop according to different treatments are explained as follows. Photo-1.a Satellite-view of the experiment site nearby the river Mahanadi in Tirtol block of Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha, India International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710&E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 9, Issue 10, 2017, pp.-3993-3996. Available online at http://www.bioinfopublication.org/jouarchive.php?opt=&jouid=BPJ0000217 Abstract- Wet season rice sown early by 20 June could out-yield subsequent delayed sowings by 69.18% (5 July) and 290.86% (20 July) under complete submergence. Straw yield also followed the similar trend. Harvest index of early sown rice was significantly superior over th e corresponding indices of rice sown by latter two dates. Grain and straw yields were higher in cv. Pratikshya than Hybrid Ajay under post-flood agro-ecological situation. Among all treatment combinations, the highest grain yield could be harvested in Pratikshya sown early (20 June) under modified System of Rice Intensification (SRI) whereas Ajay sown late (20 July) under SRI had yielded the lowest grain. Keywords- Sowing time, Submergence, Flood, Systems of Cultivation, Rice Genotypes.