EFFECT OF FERTILIZER ON GROWTH, YIELD AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF LOCAL AROMATIC RICE IN AMAN SEASON
Abstract
A pot experiment was conducted at the experimental net house of the Department of Soil
Science, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet to observe the effect of fertilizers on growth,
yield and nutrient uptake of local aromatic rice varieties during the Aman season of 2015.
The experiment was laid out in a RCBD with three replications. Five aromatic rice varieties
(V1: Kalizira, V2: Muktasail, V3: Nagrasail, V4: Maloti and V5: Chinigura) and four levels of
fertilizer (F1: Recommended dose i.e. 45-10-20-10-0.5 kg ha
of
recommended dose, F3: 1/3
-1
rd
of N-P-K-S-Zn, F2: 2/3
rd
of recommended dose, and F4: Control) were used. Urea, TSP,
MoP, gypsum and ZnSO4 were used as N, P, K, S and Zn sources, respectively. All fertilizers
were applied as basal during final pot preparation while urea was applied in two equal splits
(one half as basal and another half at 40 DAT). With few exceptions, all of the growth and
yield contributing characters of the aromatic rice varieties were significantly affected by the
application of different fertilizer doses. The longest plant (124.5 cm) at harvest was found in
Muktasail whereas the shortest plant (91.40 cm) was noted in Kalizira variety. The highest
tiller number hill
-1
(8.67) was noticed in Chinigura variety. The highest grain yield was recorded in Nagrasail
variety (65.33 g pot
(25.00) was observed in Kalizira but the lowest number of tiller hill
-1
-1
) at recommended dose of fertilizers
while the lowest yield (24.31 g pot
) followed by Kalizira (65.26 g pot
-1
) was observed in Maloti with no fertilizer. Straw yield
was the highest (174.07 g pot
-1
-1
) in Maloti at recommended dose of fertilizers but the lowest
(61.70 g pot
-1
) was recorded in Kalizira variety with no fertilizer. Mostly Kalizira and
Nagrasail varieties showed the highest nutrient (N, P, K, S and Zn) content and uptake in
grain and straw at recommended dose of fertilizers while Chinigura was observed to have the
lowest in control treatment. In case of post harvest soil nutrient analyses, soil containing
Kalizira or Chinigura variety associated with recommended dose of fertilizers showed the
highest nutrient status. The overall results indicated that recommended dose of all chemical
fertilizers may optimize the production of aromatic rice.