Combined Application of Subsurface Drainage and Fertilization, a Method to Reduce the Effects of Iron and Sulfide Toxicities in Irrigated Rice Fields in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Iron and sulfide toxicities are among the main abiotic stresses that disturb rice productivity in irrigated rice fields in West Africa. Many lowlands are affected and several are deserted due to the constraints. Iron and sulfide toxicities occur when high quantities of ferrous iron and sulfide are mobilized from adjacent slopes and/or are produced in the rice paddy flooded soils by Iron-Reducing Bacteria (IRB) and Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria (SRB) through the reduction of ferric and sulfate ions in anaerobic conditions. Excessive uptake of iron II and sulfide results in increased polyphenol oxidase activity, inducing the production of phytotoxic oxygen radicals and yields decreases. To reduce the phenomenon in affected paddy soils, many studies regarding water management, fertilization, and rice varieties selection studies were conducted during the last decades. However, the constraints remain up today. Based on the literature available and experimental research conducted, the present writing would like to contribute to reduce the constraints by proposing a suitable method of integrated utilization of subsurface drainage, fertilization mode, and rice varieties selection.