Effect of crop residue and nitrogen management on nutrient content and quality of rice in rice-wheat cropping system

Field experiments were conducted during the kharif seasons of 2019 and 2020 to assess the effects of crop residue management practices and nitrogen levels on the nutrient content and quality of rice in a rice-wheat system. The experiments were carried out using a split-plot design and replicated thrice. The experiment involved six crop residue management practices as main plots and three nitrogen levels as subplots. The results revealed that both crop residue management practices and nitrogen levels significantly affected the grain nutrient content, protein content, and head rice recovery. However, milling parameters (brown and milled rice) and cooking parameters (minimum cooking time, elongation ratio, water uptake, and gruel solid loss) remained unaffected by crop residue management practices. Graded doses of nitrogen significantly affected the milling and cooking parameters. Notably, a significant improvement in quality parameters was observed with 125 kg N ha^-1 compared to 75 kg N ha^-1.