Dr. Hamil Uribe
University of Concepcion
Abstract Title: Evaluation of Surface and Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Rice Using Drought-Tolerant Genotypes in South-Central Chile
Biography:
Dr. Hamil Uribe studied agricultural engineering at University of Concepción, Chile and graduated as Mg in 2003 and as Dr in 2009. He joined the water research group of the Instituto de investigaciones agropecuarias, INIA-Chile. He is a researcher in water managements and had worked in Florida State University, in Gainesville, Florida, USA and University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. He has published research articles and technological diffusion in irrigation and hydrology.
Research Interest:
South-central Chile is the world’s southernmost rice-producing area. Climate change has strongly reduced water availability, so irrigation methods alternative to the traditional high-water demand flood irrigation should be explored. In this research, the feasibility of drip irrigation was evaluated for the first time in the country. The trial was carried out in Ñiquén, Ñuble Region, during the 2023-2024 season, in a clay loam soil, with two irrigation treatments, surface drip (DI) and subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) and three rice genotypes (Jaspe, Zafiro, Quila300502), previously selected for their tolerance to water stress. Integral Pressure Compensated, Anti-Siphon Drip lines, 2 L h-1 flow rete, spaced every 0.5 m were used. Sowing (70 kg ha-1) was carried out in continuous flow seeding (0.3 m between rows) and irrigation lines every other row. The subsurface lines were buried at 0.2 m. ANOVA was performed to compare yields (base 15% moisture) by genotype, resulting in 7753, 8873 and 9413 kg ha-1, for ‘Zafiro’, ‘Quila300502’ and ‘Jaspe’, respectively. The mean yields by irrigation treatments were 8525 and 8835 kg ha-1 for SDI and DI, respectively, without significant differences (p < 0.05). The results demonstrated the feasibility of producing rice with drip irrigation in the Mediterranean climate conditions of Chile, using the appropriate genotypes