Effect of Balanced Nutrient Approaches on Yield, Quality and Economics of Different Rice Varieties Under Direct Seeded Upland Condition in Eastern India

Rice (Oryza sativa L.)is the second most important grain crop in India and cultivated in 43.38 million hectares (mha), with an annual production of 104.32 million tons (mt)[1]. It is a staple food for the 60 percent population of India. To address the growing demand for the food, feed and industrial sectors, as well as to access the export markets, rice production would still need to increase by additional 143 mt to cope with 40% world population and to raise average food consumption to 3130 kcal/person/day by 2050 [1]. In Asia, rice is commonly grown with wet tillage land preparation (puddled soil) by transplanting seedlings which adversely affects soil physical properties by destroying soil aggregates, reducing permeability in subsurface layers, and forming hard-pans at shallow depths [2]. Alongside, it is considered one of the major sources of methane (CH ) 4 emissions and accounts for 10-20% (50-100 Tg/year) of total global annual CHemissions [3]. Puddling and transplanting 4 require large amount of water and labour, both of which are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. Upland rice grown in rain-fed, naturally well-drained soils, without surface water accumulation could be abetter under direct seeded rice method. Dry–seeding of rice with subsequent aerobic soil conditions eliminates the need of puddling and subsequent submerged soil conditions, thus reducing the overall water demand and providing opportunities for water and labour savings[2]. Direct seeding enables the sowing of rice without any heavy tillage operation under conservation agriculture. Conservation agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted in rice-wheat cropping system to sustain the productivity and soil health in along run[4]. CA is a farming system that promotes maintenance of a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance (i.e. zero tillage), and diversification of plant species. ZTrice has several advantages such as it involves low fuel consumption inland preparation, reduced labour costs, improved soil health and quality and conserves soil moisture with higher water use efficiency (WUE) and NUE of about 15-20% along with higher yield.

Rice grown under upland condition is generally low in nutrient availability. In addition, the imbalance and indiscriminate use of fertilizer is one of the most important factors for low productivity and nutrient use efficiency in rice crop [5].The development of early maturing varieties and improved nutrient management techniques along with integrated weed management methods have encouraged many farmers in the Philippines, Thailand and India to switch from Transplanted Rice (TPR) to Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) [6].Conjunctive use of organic manure along with fertilizer has been proved to be an efficient source of nutrient supply. Organic residue recycling is becoming an increasingly important aspect of environmentally sound sustainable agriculture. Returning residues like green manure to the soil is necessary for maintaining soil organic matter, which is important for favorable soil structure, soil water retention and soil microflora and fauna activities. To enhance farm profitability under different soil-climate conditions, it is necessary to determine the optimum fertilizer doses and appropriate method of fertilizer application on the basis of soil test and crop response studies [7]. In order to achieve the higher and sustained yield overlong period by maintaining the soil fertility level and preventing the environmental contamination, it is very much necessary to maintain balance between nutrient requirement of crops and nutrient reserves in soil. Managing the location specific variability in nutrient supply is a key strategy to overcome the current mismatch of fertilizer rates and crop nutrient demand in upland rice environments. The soil test crop response (STCR) approach is a novel approach wherein fertilizer recommendations are made by considering nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of the crop and nutrient contribution of soil. STCR approach could be a strategy to enhance rice productivity (15-35%) and NUE in rice–wheat cropping system [7]. Besides this, soil test fertilizer recommendation (STFR) meter can give nutrient-specific fertilizer requirement to crop. It addresses the site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) principles and utilizes information of the growing environment to provide balanced fertilizer recommendations for rice which are tailored for a particular location, cropping system, rice ecology, season, and farmer resource availability [8]. Despite the huge vast scope of growing rice under zero-till upland conditions in Jharkhand, with fertilizer recommendations by STFR meter and STCR approach, very limited research has been done for evaluating these management practices. Therefore, it need to be tested in various ecologies for sustainable production in Jharkhand region. With respect to it, the current study is planned on the topic entitled “Developing nutrient management options for different rice cultivars under zero-till upland conditions.