Effect of integrated nitrogen management on yield and quality of rice

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2011 and 2012 on sandy clay loam soil at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Chintapalli, Andhra Pradesh to find out the effect of sources of nitrogen and planting methods on productivity and quality of rice. The experiment consisted of twenty treatment combinations involving two methods of planting, direct seeding and transplanting and two rice varieties, BPT 8024 and MTU 2077 as main treatments and the sub-plot treatments consisted of five nitrogen management practices viz N₁ (no nitrogen), N₂ (100% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer), N₃ (100% recommended nitrogen through FYM), N₄ (50% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer with 50% recommended nitrogen through FYM) and N₅ (100% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer with 25% recommended nitrogen through FYM). The results indicated that neither the two planting methods nor the two varieties had any significant effect on the growth as well as quality parameters of rice. Among the different nitrogen management practices N₅ (100% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer with 25% recommended nitrogen through FYM) resulted in the highest 1000grain weight, grain and straw yield and nutrient uptake of rice crop. Quality parameters like head rice recovery, volume/expansion ratio, protein content and amylase content were the highest with N₅ (100% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer with 25% recommended nitrogen through FYM) which was however comparable with N₅ (100% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer with 25% recommended nitrogen through FYM) and N₂ (100% recommended nitrogen through fertilizer) but distinctly superior to N₃ (100% recommended nitrogen through FYM).