In the eastern part of India, rice as the most vital staple food crop supports as well the livelihood security of a vast population. Rice is mostly grown under conventional flooded culture without proper nutrient management. Crop performance, water productivity and economic profitability of rice cultivation need to be assessed under water-saving rice production methodologies with proper integrated plant nutrient management strategies using locally available low-cost nutrient sources. A field trial was conducted at the Adaptive Research Farm, Polba (58.57 m msl), Agriculture Department, West Bengal, India, during the rainy/wet seasons of 2014 and 2015 under aerobic culture, the system of rice intensification (SRI) and conventional flooded culture. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of integrated plant nutrition and water-saving rice production methodologies on the crop performance and water productivity of rice and analyse the economic profitability of rice under different nutritional management and crop production methods such as aerobic culture, conventional flooded and SRI with an objective of sustainability in rice cultivation in the agroclimatic region. The results revealed that crop productivity significantly (p ≤ 0.05) varied from 4.68 t ha⁻¹ (average yield recorded under aerobic culture) to 6.21 t ha⁻¹ (average yield as achieved under SRI). Cultivation of rice under aerobic and conventional culture resulted in 24.6% and 20.9% yield reduction respectively as compared to SRI. Integrating 75% of the recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) through chemicals with 25% RDN from vermicompost resulted in maximum crop productivity irrespective of crop culture. Aerobic rice culture registered maximum water economy in terms of both irrigation water productivity and total productivity. The study concludes that, for maximization of economic profitability, value cost ratio and partial factor productivity of nutrients the SRI method can be adopted along with integrated nutrient management (75% of RDN through chemicals with 25% RDN from vermicompost) in the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain Zone (IGPZ) of West Bengal, India.

Rice, the predominant food crop in India, is being grown traditionally with improper plant nutrient management mostly under the flooded situation. Recent advancement in research on crop science focuses on water-saving rice technologies for maximization in crop and water productivity under the backdrop of a shrinking water resource base for ensuring environmental and agricultural sustainability. Under this situation, an experiment was conducted in two consecutive years in a split-plot design keeping rice cultivation methodologies, viz., aerobic culture, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and conventional flooded culture in main plots and integrated plant nutrient management (INM) treatments in sub-plots. The experiment was aimed at understanding the effects of different rice production systems and INM on nutrient content, uptake, and use efficiency. The change in soil quality parameters was also studied to understand the impact of crop establishment methods (CEM) and INM options. Significant reduction (p ≤ 0.05) in nutrient uptake and use efficiency was observed under aerobic culture compared to SRI and flooded method, although aerobic culture showed the highest physiological nitrogen use efficiency. Post-harvest available Fe status was significantly lower in aerobic rice (mean 10.39 ppm) compared to other crop establishment technologies; however, Zn status was higher in aerobic rice over the flooded situation. Although available potassium was not affected due to rice cultivation methods, available nitrogen and phosphorus status were influenced remarkably. Soil microbial quality was improved in aerobic rice in comparison to flooded rice. SRI proved to be the most efficient rice establishment method for enhancement in nutrient uptake, use efficiency, and enrichment of soil chemical and microbiological quality. Irrespective of crop culture, integrated plant nutrition in rice improved the nutrient uptake, use efficiency, and soil quality parameters. The study revealed that, under the alluvial soils of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Eastern India, SRI can be considered as a water-saving rice production method. The method can also improve nutrient uptake, efficiency, and soil quality parameters if proper INM is adopted.

Rice plays a pivotal role in food security and global agricultural economy. Rice production sustainability to be assured and accelerated for feeding burgeoning population on the backdrop of scarce water resources. Flooded rice requires 900-2250 mm of water which leads to increasing water shortage. The rice production sustainability is threatened due to arsenic calamity and emission of greenhouse gases causing global warming. Aerobic rice culture technology is paradigm shift in rice production to increase water and crop productivity under the backdrop of shrinking water resource base requiring less water and the crop is grown non flooded or saturated with an added advantage of 50-80% lesser emission of methane. Significant differences in energy balance and evapo-transpiration, water productivity indicates that aerobic rice is one of the promising water saving technologies being developed to lower the water requirement of the rice crop to address the issue of water scarcity in tropical agriculture. Literature reveals that radiation use efficiency (RUE) in aerobic culture is comparable to or higher than that in flooded culture. Water inputs in aerobic rice are 50% lower (only 470 mm - 650 mm), 64-80% higher water productivities, 28-44% lower gross return, 55% lower labor use than flooded rice. But, micronutrient deficiencies especially Fe and Mn due to change in soil redox potential, infestation of root knot nematodes and interaction of biotic- abiotic stresses, increasing soil pH and high weed pressure led to yield failure or severe yield penalty in some cases. Grain yield reduction up to 25% or more has been reported by aerobic crop. This article reviews the possible interventions and modifications in morphological and physiological traits, appropriate breeding strategies for development of ideotype for aerobic situation on nutrient and weed management, water productivity and bio-energetics for sustaining rice production for immediate future to avert water scarcity and ensure food security.