Effects of Desalinization Management on Rice Yield in Sea Water Flooded Field

Over 2,000 ha of rice fields in the western and southern coastal region of Korea were flooded with sea water during the spring tide, on August 19-21, 1997, and the rice plant at heading stage was injured. The field surveys were undertaken at the sea water flooded paddy fields in Chonbuk Province, to identify the injury symptoms and rice yield damage subjected to different flooding condition and desalinization methods. Five days after sea water flooding at heading stage, the flag leaves of rice plants flooded with 30 ㎝ deep sea water withered from the tip, the withering progressed to the lower leaves in deeper flooding. The spikelets were spotted black and discolored from the tip at 50 ㎝ deep flooded rice, and some panicles changed to white at 80 ㎝ deep flooded rice. Most of the rice leaves submerged completely for an hour were withered and most of panicles changed to white. The milled rice yield, percentage of ripened grain, and 1000 grain weight of flooded rice decreased with deeper flooding water, higher water salinity and longer flooding time. Even under the same flooding conditions, the damage of rice yield varied with the growth stage: heading stage>dough stage>booting stage. Rice yield damage was less in the fields on the upper riverside than those of the fields on the estuary and seaside, because of lower water salinity. In a flooded field, the rice yield damages were reduced as the distance increased from the levees where the sea water inflowed and increased as the distance increased from the fresh water irrigation gate. The desalinization treatments consisting of frequent exchange of irrigation water and spraying with fresh water soon after flooding effectively reduced the rice yield damage.