Ecological and agricultural values of winter-flooded rice fields in Mississippi: final report to funding sponsors Scott W. Manley

Winter management of harvested ricefields can resolve important challenges of ecological conservation and agriculture. I evaluated the combined effects of post-harvest ricefield treatment (standing stubble or disked) and winter flooding on selected environmental, agricultural,and waterbird food variables. Winter flooding of ricefields conserved soil and nutrients while increasing quality of runoff waters, especially when ricefields were not disked after fall harvest. Winter flooding also reduced rice straw and retarded growth of winter weeds. Less straw and weeds would require less tillage and herbicide application in spring,contributing to a potential combined savings of as much as $54/ha ($22/ac). These collective attributes make winter flooding of ricefields a beneficial conservaiton and agricultural practice. In fields with red rice infestation, seed viability can be reduced to <10% in spring by not disking after harvest (i.e., leave seeds on ground to germinate in fall and wint