1. INTRODUCTION Kenya is a food insecure Economy reliant on rain-fed agriculture(by a factor of 1.6) Key intervention: irrigation Irrigation challenged by water scarcity, low input productivity, high production costs Need to develop resource-efficient (resource- saving) technologies e.g. SRI and UDP in rice cultivation

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT Rice cultivation faces water scarcity and high production costs Need to reduce use of rice water and production inputs SRI saved irrigation water by approx. 30% and increased yield by nearly 30%; UDP saved fertilizer use by approx. 50% and increased yield by nearly 20% in rice Is there a possible synergy from a combination of SRI and UDP? No trials have been conducted

3. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of combining SRI and UDP practices on growth and yield of lowland rice Varieties: Evaluate performance of different lowland rice varieties under SRI/UDP Determine optimal spacing for the test varieties under SRI and UDP

4. METHODS Trial site MIAD (latitudes 37°13’E and 37°30’E, longitudes 0°32’S and 0°46’S and altitude of 1195 m a.s.l.) RCBD with split-split plots (USG as main plot, varieties as sub-plots and spacing as sub-sub-plots) with three replicates Fertilizers: 2.7 g USG, 1.8 g USG, standard practice (SA) Rice varieties: Basmati 370, IR 2793, BW 196 Spacing levels: 20cmx20cm, 25cmx25cm, 30cmx30cm

5. DATA COLLECTION Soil sampling at start and end of the experiment Rice growth data: plant height, total tillers, productive tillers, Rice yield data: panicle length, total and filled grains, 1000-grain weight, yield

6. DATA ANALYSIS Analysis using SAS program (SAS institute,2002)

7. RESULTS- final plant height IR2793BW 196 Basmati 370

8. RESULTS – total tillers Basmati 370 IR 2793 BW 196

9. RESULTS- productive tillers Basmati 370 IR 2793 BW 196

10. RESULTS – panicle length IR 2793Basmati 370 BW 196

11. RESULTS – total grains Basmati 370 IR 2793 BW 196

12. RESULTS – filled grains Basmati 370 IR 2793 BW 196

13. RESULTS – 1000-g wt Basmati 370IR 2793 BW 196

14. RESULTS - yield Basmati 370 IR 2793 BW 196

15. DISCUSSION No significant difference in final plant height, total and productive tillers, panicle length, total and filled grains, 1000-grain weight and yield for all the varieties under the respective treatments These results confirm observation made in the previous trial

16. CONCLUSION On the basis of these results a combination of SRI and UDP techniques does not directly change the final plant height, total and productive tillers, panicle length, total and filled grains, 1000-grain weight as well as yield

17. RECOMMENDATION Conduct economic (cost/benefit) analysis of SRI- UDP compared as to conventional