Effect of Crop Establishment, Intermittent Submergence and Precision Nitrogen Management on Growth and Yield of Rice

The traditional production practices of rice are water-wasting, expensive, labor-intensive, energy-consuming, and time-consuming, making rice cultivation less profitable. Effective water and nitrogen management practices are essential for better rice growth and yield. Keeping these facts in view, the present investigation was conducted at the Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi during kharif season of 2019 and 2020. The experimental soil was Gangetic alluvial sandy clay loam. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design during both years with three replications. Crop establishment (as factor A) and Irrigation scheduling (as factor B) were allocated to the main plot, and nitrogen management in subplots. In main plot, two crop establishment methods (Factor A) i.e. CE1: Puddle Transplanted Rice (PTR) and CE2: Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and three irrigation regime (Factor B), i.e. I1: Continuously submerged (CS) of 5 ± 2 cm depth, I2: Intermittent submergence (IS) of 5 ± 2 cm and irrigation after five days of disappearance of water from the soil surface & I3: Intermittent submergence of 5 ± 2 cm and irrigation after ten days of water disappearance from the soil surface were taken. In sub plot treatments, four nitrogen management practices i.e. N1: recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN), N2: LCC threshold ≤ 4, N3: SPAD 30 & N4: Rice-Wheat Crop Manager recommendation. Results showed that Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and Intermittent submergence of 5 ± 2 cm and irrigation after 5 days of disappearance of water among the main plot and nitrogen recommendation based on Rice-Wheat Crop Manager (RWCM) recorded higher plant height, number of tillers, chlorophyll content and grain yield of rice over other treatment. DSR recorded a higher grain yield by 9.5 % over Conventional method, whereas I2 recorded 7.5 % more grain yield over I1 and RWCM (N4) recorded 17% more grain yield over Recommended Nitrogen Dose (RDN). It was concluded that Direct-Seeded Rice with intermittent submergence and precision nitrogen management improved the growth and yield of rice under the climatic conditions of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. This approach offers a more profitable and sustainable method for rice cultivation.