Water management strongly affected rice productivity with
lower performances in the intermittently irrigated system
compared to both water and dry seeded
flooded treatments. This
was in agreement with the results reported by various authors
(Mahmod et al., 2014; Bouman and Tuong, 2001; Devkota et al.,
2013) who found a net yield decrease with alternative water
practices compared with the conventional
flooded cultivation. The
higher yields in WFL and DFL were related to the compensation
between panicle density, which was higher in WFL, and the
number of spikelets per panicle, higher in DFL. The better yield
performance obtained by the four varieties in both water and dry
seeded
flooded treatments underlined their better adaptation to
submerged conditions. However, among the studied varieties,
Gladio and Baldo showed the greatest yield losses in DIR, whereas
Selenio and Loto were less affected. This highlighted a genetic