Responses in dry matter production of NERICA to soil moisture stress

Abstract

NERICA (new rice for Africa) developed by Africa Rice Centre (ARC) in West Africa has a reputation for high production under rainfed cultures. These genotypes have been widely adopted by farmers in West African countries and Uganda in East Africa while other countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania are conducting adaptability trials for selection and recommendations to farmers. Under Kenyan agro-ecological conditions, our preliminary adaptability trials of different NERICA lines showed that NERICA 1, 4 and 11 showed consistently higher yield. This study aimed to examine the dry matter production response to soil moisture stresses for these potential lines. Such response was further investigated based on the concept that dry matter is the product of water use (WU) and water use efficiency (WUE). Hence, a series of experiments were conducted under glasshouse and field conditions at Nagoya University from July to December 2006.