In order to explore the suitable irrigation method and the matching nitrogen application rate in rice production, a water and fertilizer coupling field experiment was carried out using a rice cultivar named “ C Liangyou Huazhan” as the experimental material. The experiment set up two factors, irrigation water volume and nitrogen fertilizer level. Based on the amount of water used for flood irrigation, four water treatments were set as follows,W1 (flood irrigation, 100%), W2 (mild alternate wetting and drying irrigation, 66.7%), W3 (moderate alternate wetting and drying irrigation, 33.3%) and W4 (rain-fed, 0%). Irrigation frequency of different water treatments were the same, and the treatments were carried out at the same time when the W1 water layer disappeared. Six nitrogen fertilizer gradients were set as 0, 90, 135, 180, 225, and 270 kg/hm2 respectively. Then the rice growth traits, yield, water and nitrogen use efficiency were studied. The results showed that increasing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer significantly increased the rice plant height and leaf SPAD value under different irrigation treatments. The moderate dry and wet alternate irrigation significantly reduced the height of the plants under low nitrogen application rate, and the high nitrogen application rate compensated to a certain extent for the effect of the reduced irrigation amount on the plant height. Under mild and moderate dry and wet alternate irrigation treatment, the SPAD value of rice leaves in the mature stage under high nitrogen treatment significantly reduced, thereby improving the phenomenon of green and late maturity. Under different irrigation treatments, with the increase of nitrogen fertilizer application, the effective panicle number of rice showed a gradually increasing trend. Rain-fed treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the number of rice grains and seed setting rate. Under different irrigation methods, there was a quadratic relationship between the amount of nitrogen fertilizer application and rice yield. Different water treatments had different nitrogen application rates when the rice yield peak occurred. When the nitrogen application rate reached 135 kg/hm2, continuing to increase the nitrogen application rate caused a significant impact on rice yield under different water treatments. Continued application of nitrogen fertilizer under water deficit conditions resulted in a significant decrease in yield. In summary, the amount of nitrogen applied should match the amount of irrigation water. Under mild dry and wet alternate irrigation conditions, the application of 180 kg/hm2 nitrogen fertilizer will achieve a better water and fertilizer coupling mode, which suggest that higher yield can be obtained with reduced irrigation, and higher agronomic utilization efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer as well as nitrogen partial productivity can be maintained at the same time.