Resilient Fertilization Strategies to Enhance Rice Productivity in Submergence-Prone Areas
Date
2022-05-09
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Abstract
Rice is an important staple crop in SSA, and ensuring adequate availability throughout the year is critical for regional food security. However, in the face of climate variability, it will be difficult for countries in this region to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production. Globally, more than 16% of rice-producing lowlands are adversely affected by excess water stress, caused by either flash floods with complete submergence for a relatively short duration (commonly ranging from a few days to few weeks), or longer-term stagnant flooding of 20-50 cm water depth through most of the season (Asubonteng et al., 2001). Although rice is well known for its ability to grow in flooded soils, most rice cultivars cannot survive under submergence for more than a week, often resulting in total crop loss (Ismail et al., 2013). Efforts to improve rice productivity under such conditions have mainly focused on varietal improvement, which have resulted in breeding of several high yielding submergence-tolerance rice cultivars (Africa Rice Center, 2004). However, to achieve optimum production levels of these rice cultivars, there is the need to maximize the benefits for the genotypes with nutrient management strategies tailored for the specific environmental conditions. Optimal nutrition of rice seedlings before submergence and post-submergence is necessary for rice plants to fully develop cellular and metabolic requirements essential for surviving short-term submergence. Therefore, the objective of the study was to determine the most effective fertilization strategy that enhance rice production resilience in submergence-prone areas
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Keywords
Rice, Fertilization
Citation
Agyin-Birikorang, S., Singh, U., Tindjina, I., Issahaku, A.R., Dauda, H.W., and Boubakary, C. 2022. Resilient Fertilization Strategies to Enhance Rice Productivity in Submergence-Prone Areas. Growing Africa 1(1), 27-31. https://doi.org/10.55693/ga11. tvtv2244