across the globe water is fast becoming a precious commodity as more and more
0:24people use water for the household industry and agriculture rice uses up
0:31the most amount of water in agriculture with almost half of the world's
0:36population depending on rice
0:38mr. staple food by 2025 15 to 20 million hectors of irrigated rice fields may
0:47suffer from water scarce city to address this problem
0:52scientists have developed a technique called alternate wetting and drying or
0:57AWD which uses less water to grow rice AWD is a water-saving technology that
1:05Lowlander eyes farmers can apply to reduce water use in irrigated fields in
1:12AWD the rice field is allowed to dry for a number of days before being flooded
1:18again hands to feel this
1:20alternately flooded and left dr the number of days that the field can be
1:26left dry depends on the soil type and other field conditions
1:31a practical way of applying AWD is by observing the depth of water in the
1:39field using a field water children after irrigation water level will gradually
1:46decrease when the water level has dropped to 15 centimeters below the soil
1:52surface the field should be reflected to a depth of 5 centimeters allowing the
1:59water in the field to drop the 15 centimeters below the soil surface
2:03before irrigating again it's cold safe
2:07AWD the 15 centimeter limit will not cost any yield decline since the roots
2:13of the rice plants will be able to take up water from the saturated soil and the
2:19perched water level in the surface the field water tube helps farmers see the
2:25heating source of water safe
2:28AWD irrigation can be started a few days after transplanting or when the direct
2:34seeded rice crop is already 10 centimeters tall until first heading
2:39when many weeds are present in the early stages of crop room safe
2:45ewd can be postponed for two to three weeks until the weeds have been
2:49suppressed by the ponded water local fertilizer recommendations were flooded
2:55rice can be used to apply nitrogen fertilizer preferably on the dry soil
3:01just before irrigation a week before Toby after the peak of flowering
3:09water should be kept at a 5 centimeter death to avoid water stress which could
3:15result in potentially severe yield loss after flowering and during grain feeling
3:22applied safe
3:24AWD again in safe
3:28AWD water savings may be relatively small about fifteen to twenty five
3:33percent but there is no yield penalty
3:36once farmers are confident that safe
3:40AWD does not reduce yield they can experiment by lowering the threshold
3:45level 2 20 25 30 centimeter death or even deeper before irrigation
3:54the field water tube can be made of a plastic pipe or bamboo or other
4:01indigenous materials that will help farmers sea water below the soil cut
4:07this materials to a 40 centimeter length with the amateur of 15 centimeters or
4:13more to easily see the water level inside the tube the bottom 20 centimeter
4:19length of the tube should be drilled with poles on all sides holes should
4:24have a diameter of about 0.5 centimeter each and space about two centimeters
4:30away from one another
4:39the tube can be placed on the side of the field close to the bond but not less
4:44than a meter away for easier monitoring bury the tube vertically to the soil so
4:51that 20 centimeters or half of its length protrudes above the soil surface
4:56take care not to penetrate through the bottom of the plow pan or hard pan which
5:02is a dense layer of soil that is largely resistant to water
5:05remove the soil inside the tube so that the bottom of the truth is visible
5:11check that the water level inside the tube is the same as that outside the
5:16chew
5:18alternate wedding and trying or AWD is already a mature technology that can be
5:25readily used by farmers the field water chu is a very simple tool that guides
5:31farmers to effectively and efficiently manage their limited irrigation water
5:36order rice crawl
5:38however farmers can only truly appreciate the benefits and water
5:43savings from AWD if adoption of this promising technology is done at the
5:49community or system level
6:12yeah
6:19yeah