Nutrient Management :: An Introduction

Nutrient Management :: Rice : Main Field

Application of Inorganic Fertilizers

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If the above recommendations are not able to be followed, adopt blanket recommendation as follows:

Nutrients	N	P₂O₅	K₂O
(kg/ha)
Short duration varieties (Dry Season)
a) Cauvery delta & Coimbatore tract	150	50	50
b) For other tracts	120	40	40
Medium and long duration varieties (Wet Season)	150	50	50
Hybrid rice	175	60	60
Low N responsive cultivars (like Improved White Ponni)	75*	50	50

*For Ponni, N should be applied in three splits at AT, PI and H stages

Phenological stages of rice (days after sowing)

Split application of N and K

Apply N and K in four equal splits viz., basal, tillering, panicle initiation and heading stages.
Tillering and Panicle initiation periods are crucial and should not be reduced with the recommended quantity.
N management through LCC may be adopted wherever chart is available.

Application of P fertilizer

P may be applied as basal and incorporated.
When the green manure is applied, rock phosphate can be used as a cheap source of P fertilizer.
If rock phosphate is applied, the succeeding rice crop need not be supplied with P.
Application of rock phosphate + single super phosphate or DAP mixed in different proportions (75:25 or 50:50) is equally effective as SSP or DAP alone.

Application of Micronutrients

Soil Application

Soil application of 25 kg zinc sulphate /ha mixed with 50 kg dry sand or apply 25 kg of TNAU Wetland rice MN mixture/ha enriched in FYM at 1:10 ratio incubated for 30 days at friable moisture, just before transplanting.

It is enough to apply 12.5 kg zinc sulphate /ha, if green manure (6.25 t/ha) or enriched FYM is applied.
For saline and sodic acid 37.5 kg ZnSO₄ /ha can be applied.
Apply 500 kg of gypsum/ha (as source of Ca and S nutrients) at last ploughing.
Application of 50 kg FeSO₄ + 12.5 t FYM /ha, if the soil is deficient in Fe.
For Cauvery delta zone, application of 5 kg CuSO₄/ha can be recommended.

Foliar Nutrition

Foliar spray of 1% urea + 2% MAP + 1% KCl at Panicle Initiation (PI) and 10 days after first spray to improve grain filling rate and yield in all varieties.
If deficiency symptom appears in the standing crop (15 days after transplanting) foliar application of 0.5% zinc sulphate can be given at 7-10 days interval for short duration and 15 days interval for medium and long duration crop until the Zn deficiency symptoms disappear.
Biofortification strategies : For biofortification of Zn in rice, the efficient cultivars viz., CO 51, CO 47, ADT 47, ADT 37 may be grown with the basal soil application of 50 kg ZnSO₄ /ha along with foliar spraying of 0.5% ZnSO₄ thrice at 50% flowering, milky and dough stages to enrich the grain Zn content.

Updated on Jan 2023