Rice is threatened by ineffective inputs of water and fertilizers. Therefore, we detected the effect of soil clay content on plant physiological traits and their relationships to phosphorus (P) utilization -efficiency of rice under different irrigation options. Thus, our experiment was conducted in a two -factor randomized complete block design. The first factor was irrigation method, including three choices: alternate wetting/critical drying (AWCD) (50% drying), alternate wetting/sharp drying (AWSD) (30% drying), and alternative wetting/minor drying (AWMD), (10% drying). The second factor was soil clay amount, with three levels at 65, 50, and 30%, corresponding to SHC, SMC, and SLC. The root 's growth and activity were lower in AWCD x SLC than in AWMD x SHC. While the former treatment decreased the P content in soil, the latter increased their availability. The glutamine synthetase (492.5 mu mol g -1 h -1 ) was lower in AWCD x SLC than in AWMD x SHC at 1006.1 mu mol g -1 h -1 , leading to the increase of oxidative cell damage. The optimal P nutrition improved plant growth under AWMD x SHC. The AWCD x SLC led to the minimum agronomic efficiency of P (PAE, 13.67 g/g) and the apparent recovery efficiency of P (PARE, 1.55%). However, the maximum values of PAE (44.05 g/g) and PARE (21.45%) were detected in AWMD x SHC. This study suggests that increasing soil clay content encourages the growth, yield, and P uptake of rice under alternate wetting/minor drying irrigation. The study has excellent application potential, providing technical support for precision water and P fertilizer management of rice.