Under the pre-germinated system of rice growing, water is retrieved about three days after seeding in order to improve plant establishment. This practice therefore, causes water and nutrient losses and weeds reinfestation. The permanence of water in the field could minimize these problems. Experiments were conducted during the years of 2000/01 till 2002/03 aiming to evaluate the performance of permanent irrigated rice genotypes under flooding, specially for plant lodging, a limiting factor of this management system. The experiments were conducted on a lowland area in a Haplaqualf soil and the treatments were 8, 12 and 15 genotypes in the first, second, and third years, respectively. In the year 1 the mean rice yield was 7279kg ha-1 and IRGA 1572-11-1F-1-4-4 (8279kg ha-1) the most productive genotype. Lodging percentage varied between 0 and 60% and for most treatments in the range from to 0-20%. All genotypes presented some degree of lodging, except El Paso L 144. In the year 2 the mean rice yield was 8492kg ha-1 and the most productive was BRS-Pelota (9282kg ha-1), and no lodging occurred among the tested genotypes. In the year 3, the mean yield was 6202kg ha-1 and was related to a high percentage of the lodging, due to climatic events during seed filling. It was observed that rice yield can be high under permanent flooding but lodging is a limiting factor depending on genotype and environmental conditions.
Oriza sativa L.; irrigation management; crop system; constant flooding; lodging
