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In 2023, rice production reached 523.9 million tons, making it the fourth most produced crop globally. Accounting for 14% of global fertilizer use, the demand for rice continues to increase. However, the unbalanced application of NPK fertilizers poses significant environmental risks. An integrated nutrient management approach, combining organic and inorganic sources, offers a cost-effective solution to meet crop nutritional needs while enhancing soil health. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted in Experimental Farm of Annamalai University during kuruvai (June-September) 2023 to evaluate the effect of different levels of inorganic fertilizers with different sources of organic manures along with foliar zinc sulphate on the yield and yield components in lowland rice. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with nine treatments. These treatments included different sources of organic manures viz., farm yard manure, vermicompost, press mud and poultry manure and foliar application of zinc sulphate. The results revealed that combining 75% nitrogen through urea and 25% nitrogen from vermicompost and 100 % P and K along with foliar application of zinc sulphate (0.5%) at 25 and 50 days after transplanting (DAT) significantly improved all nutrient uptake of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium and also yield parameters viz., number of productive tillers m-2, number of filled grains/panicle, grain yield, straw yield and harvest index of rice.
DHILIPAN et al. (Sun,) studied this question.