What should farmers do when the water level decreases to soil level?
Select one:
Keep letting water into the field to maintain this level
Leave the water to slowly decrease
Drain the water out of the field to the lowest water level limit
Flood the rice field up to the highest water level limit
A practical way to implement AWD safely is by using a ‘field water tube’ (‘pani pipe’) to monitor the water depth on the field . After irrigation, the water depth will gradually decrease. When the water level has dropped to about 15 cm below the surface of the soil, irrigation should be applied to re-flood the field to a depth of about 5 cm. From one week before to a week after flowering, the field should be kept flooded, topping up to a depth of 5 cm as needed. After flowering, during grain filling and ripening, the water level can be allowed to drop again to 15 cm below the soil surface before re-irrigation.
factsheet-watermgt-awd-tube-submergedA field tube in flooded field
AWD can be started a few weeks (1−2 weeks) after transplanting. When many weeds are present, AWD should be postponed for 2−3 weeks to assist suppression of the weeds by the ponded water and improve the efficacy of herbicide. Local fertilizer recommendations as for flooded rice can be used. Apply fertilizer N preferably on the dry soil just before irrigation.