Abstract

A study was conducted towards assessing the impact of seasonal and agro-climatological variations on water productivity of rice in Tamil Nadu. The average rice yields in response to seasonal evapotranspiration in various districts of Tamil Nadu were used as the input data. Over the entire state kuruvai (June 12th to September 27th) season registered the highest average water productivity at the rate of 0.48 kg/m3 evapotranspiration, followed by navarai (December 22nd to April 21st) at the rate of 0.44 kg/m3 and Samba (August 10th to December 23rd) at the rate of 0.41 kg/m3 . Erode district recorded maximum rice water productivity at the rate of 0.65 kg/m3 followed by Salem at the rate of 0.54 kg/m3 and Namakkal at the rate of 0.53 kg/m3. In seven distinct agro climatic zones of Tamil Nadu, the North Western Zone has registered higher levels of rice water productivity in the range of 0.52 to 0.62 kg/m3

Keywords: Rice, Water Productivity, Season and Agro-climatic zone