Rice responds to fertilizer application under the SRI

Rice responds to fertilizer application under the SRI

= K.Venkata= Viswanath and R. Veeraraghavaiah=

Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College= , Bapatla- 522101.

The scope for increase in productivity of rice under the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has been creating interest to intervene in nutrient management to support for higher productivity. A field experiment was condu= cted at the Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla on a = sandy clay loam soil during rabi<= /span> season of 2005-2006 to study the influence of different interventions in nutrient management for rice under the SRI. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design replicated three times with ten treatments involving different combinations of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients.<= /o:p>

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In general, all growth parameters such as plant height, number of tillers per = m², dry matter accumulation measured at different growth stages were significan= tly affected by the interventions in nutrient management. Consistently better growth was pro= moted at all the stages of sampling with the application of 125% recommended dose= of fertilizer (RDF) for conventional rice (CR) either with 10 t or 5 t FYM ha<= sup>-1 than with the application of 100 per cent or 125 per cent RDF for CR. =

&= nbsp; The differences observed in growth parameters also reflected in yield attributi= ng characters. The highest filled grains per panicle, lowest ill-filled grains= per panicle, highest effective tillers per m^{2
and test weight were recorded by the application of 125% RDF for CR either =
with
5 t or 10 t FYM ha^-1.
The differences noticed in yield attributes reflected in grain and s=
traw
yields. Large variation in gr=
ain
(from 1774 to 7173 kg ha^-1) and straw (from 3053 to 8098 kg ha-1}) yields was recorded by the different interventions made in nutrient managem= ent in the study. Maximum grain a= nd straw yields were recorded by the application of 125% RDF for CR either wit= h 5 t or 10 t FYM ha^-1 than application of either 100% RDF for CR or= 10 t FYM ha^-1. At all the sampling times during c= rop period, application of 125% RDF for CR together with 10 t FYM ha^{-1
recorded better uptake of nutrients (NPK), which was on a par with that of =
the
same level of RDF with 5 t FYM ha^-1.}

Overall, the study indicated the need to intervene in nutrient management for rice u= nder the SRI and application of 125% recommended NPK for conventional rice toget= her with 5 t FYM ha^-1 can be followed for obtaining higher yields un= der the SRI, on sandy clay loam soils of Bapatla re= gion of Andhra Pradesh.

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