Sustainability of traditionally cultivated rice in the rice-wheat cropping zone (RWCZ) of Pakistan is dwindling due to the high cost of production, declining water resources and escalating labour availability. Thus, farmers and researchers are compelled to find promising alternatives to traditional transplanted rice (TPR). A field study was conducted in Punjab, Pakistan, in 2017 and 2018 to explore the trade-offs between water saving and paddy yield, water productivity and economics of two aromatic rice varieties under dry direct seeded rice (DDSR) and TPR. The experiment was comprised of three irrigation regimes on the basis of soil moisture tension (SMT) viz., continuous flooded (>−10 kPa SMT), alternate wetting and drying (AWD) (−20 kPa SMT) and aerobic rice (−40 kPa SMT), maintained under TPR and DDSR systems. Two aromatic rice verities: Basmati-515 and Chenab Basmati-2016 were used during both years of study. In both years, DDSR produced higher yields (13–18%) and reduced the total water inputs (8–12%) in comparison to TPR. In comparison to traditional continuous flooded (CF), AWD under DDSR reduced total water input by 27–29% and improved the leaf area index (LAI), tillering, yield (7–9%), and water productivity (44–50%). The performance of AWD with regard to water savings and increased productivity was much higher in DDSR system as compared to AWD in TPR system. Cultivation of DDSR with aerobic irrigation improved water savings (49–55%) and water productivity (22–30%) at the expense of paddy yield reduction (36–39%) and spikelet sterility. With regard to variety, the highest paddy yield (6.6 and 6.7 t ha⁻¹) was recorded in DDSR using Chenab Basmati-2016 under AWD irrigation threshold that attributed to high tiller density and LAI. The economic analysis showed DDSR as more beneficial rice establishment method than TPR with a high benefit-cost ratio (BCR) when the crop was irrigated with AWD irrigation threshold. Our results highlighted that with the use of short duration varieties, DDSR cultivation in conjunction with AWD irrigation can be more beneficial for higher productivity and crop yield.

由于生产成本高，水资源减少和劳动力供应增加，巴基斯坦稻麦种植区（RWCZ）中传统种植稻米的可持续性正在下降。因此，农民和研究人员被迫寻找有希望的替代传统移植稻米（TPR）的替代品。2017年和2018年在巴基斯坦旁遮普邦进行了田野研究，探讨了两种干稻直接播种（DDSR）和TPR的节水与水稻产量，水生产率和经济性之间的权衡取舍。该实验土壤湿度张力（SMT）的基础上由三个灌溉制度即例如，在TPR和DDSR系统下保持连续充水（> -10 kPa SMT），交替润湿和干燥（AWD）（-20 kPa SMT）和有氧稻米（−40 kPa SMT）。在这两年的研究中，使用了两种芳香米饭：Basmati-515和Chenab Basmati-2016。与TPR相比，在两年中，DDSR的产量更高（13–18％），总用水量减少（8–12％）。与传统的连续淹水（CF）相比，DDSR下的AWD将总水输入量减少了27–29％，并提高了叶面积指数（LAI），分,、产量（7–9％）和水生产率（44–50％） ）。与TPR系统中的AWD相比，DDSR系统中的AWD在节水和提高生产率方面的性能要高得多。DDSR的需氧灌溉提高了节水量（49-55％）和水生产率（22-30％），但损失了稻谷产量的减少（36-39％）和小穗不育。就品种而言，最高的稻谷产量（6.6和6.7吨公顷）^-1）是使用Chenab Basmati-2016在AWD灌溉阈值下以高分till密度和LAI记录在DDSR中的。经济分析表明，当使用AWD灌溉阈值灌溉作物时，DDSR比TPR更有利于水稻的建立，且具有较高的成本效益比（BCR）。我们的结果强调，通过使用短时品种，DDSR栽培与AWD灌溉相结合可以更有利于提高生产力和作物产量。