Abstract
Effects of water management and wheel traffic on growth of rice ratoon tillers were examined in a pot experiment. Forage rice plants that had experienced light or severe wheel traffic damage by tractors at the first-crop harvesting were used in combination with treatments of 3 types of water management : flooding 1 day after harvesting the first crop, flooding 7 days after , and no flooding with watering on demand. Characteristics of the upper nodal ratoons and the basal ones were investigated. Growth of the above-ground part was not notably decreased by wheel traffic. At the late yellow ripening stage, the plant length of basal ratoons, ratoon tiller number, total dry matter weight of ratoon tillers, and root dry matter weight were significantly lower in the treatment with flooding 1 day after harvesting than in the other water managements. The total dry matter weight of ratoon tillers that corresponded to the yield at the seond harvest (aftermath) was higher in the treatment with flooding 7 days after harvesting than in the other water treatments. The basel ratoons showed greater plant length and single-tiller weight than the upper nodal ratoons, accounting for over 92% of the total ratoon tiller weight.
