Rice genotype and fertilizer management for improving rice productivity under saline soil conditions

Soil salinity is a threat to crop production in the Senegal River Delta where salt intrusion increases soil electrical conductivity and most of farmers had abandoned their rice farms. The objective of this study was to evaluate an integrated management to improve rice productivity under saline soil condition in the Senegal River Delta. Field experiments were conducted during four rice-growing seasons from July 2014 to July 2016 at Africa Rice Center research station at Ndiaye, Senegal. The performance of five rice genotypes (IR63275-B-1-1-3-3-2, WAS73-B-B-231-4, NERICA-L9, FL478, and IR29) was evaluated under three salinity levels (0.5–0.8 dS m⁻¹, 2.0 dS m⁻¹, 3.5 dS m⁻¹) and two fertilizer management options (basal dressing at 100 kg ha⁻¹ of N–P–K (15–15–15) only and basal dressing at 200 kg ha⁻¹ of N–P–K (15–15–15) + 50 kg N ha⁻¹ urea at panicle initiation and at booting. Rice seedlings were raised at nursery for 21 days and transplanted at the density of 20 cm × 20 cm around March 15 and August 15 and harvested around July 15 and early December. The plots were drained canal when soil EC increased 0.1 dS m⁻¹ above the designed EC levels. The results showed that rice yield decreased with the increasing soil salinity and were season dependent. Rice grain yield varied from 0.9 to 8 tons ha⁻¹. Rice grain yield was 20% higher during the hot and dry seasons than the wet season. The application of the recommended fertilizer improved rice yield by 52% compared to the basal fertilizer application only. Nitrogen application at panicle initiation and at booting stages in addition to the basal fertilizer application doubled rice grain yield and should be adopted under salinity condition across the Senegal River Delta. The analysis of the combination of yield index, yield stability index, stress susceptibility index and the stress tolerant index indicated that the newly developed rice genotypes IR63275-B-1-1-3-3-2 and WAS73-B-B-231-4 showed high salt tolerance with better yield stability and low stress susceptibility and constitute good candidate to be adopted under the best fertilizer management option in the Senegal River Delta climate, soil salinity and similar environmental conditions.