Abstract: To develop non-flooding controlled irrigation in accordance with local conditions and minimize the yield loss caused by unreasonable cultivation measures, it is necessary to investigate the suitable sowing date for rice. In this text, ORYZA v3 model was firstly calibrated and validated based on data collected from non-flooding controlled irrigation rice field experiment in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, before it was used to simulate the growth of the rice under different climatic conditions from 1971 to 2010 (40 years). According to the model output value of DVS, the rice season period length, yield and some relevant rice growth factors were analyzed, and finally figure out the optimum sowing date. The RMSEn value for model calibration and validation was fell in the range of 9%-26%, and the determination coefficient R2 was between 0.85 and 0.99, which show good performance of ORYZA v3 model. According to the value of DVS, the earliest and latest available sowing date for the non-flooding controlled irrigation rice is determined to be March 28th and June 13th. To acquire the maximum yield, the sowing date was chosen from May 23rd to June 13th. Meanwhile, considering the instability of the model simulation output, the maturity rate of rice, yield uncertainty and procreation stage length corresponding to difference sowing date, the most suitable sowing date for the non-flooding controlled irrigation rice in southern Jiangsu province was recommended as from on May 23rd to June 3rd.