Growth and Yield of Rice Cultivars Under Sprinkler Irrigation in South-eastern Queensland. 1. Effects of Sowing Time

Rice crops were grown under sprinkler irrigation, on a free-draining soil, to examine the feasibility of growing rice without flooding in summer-rainfall regions of coastal Queensland. Three cultivars with different heading times were each sown on 3 different dates to determine the optimum time of planting in south-eastern Queensland. Dry grain yield was about 600 g m−2 for all 3 cultivars when sown in early summer. These early sown crops received a total of about 375 mm of irrigation water, all of which was applied during early stages of growth. Grain yield was much less in the later sowings, although total biomass production was relatively high. Low temperatures in autumn appear to have affected grain set of the late sown crops