Search

Dry direct-seeded aerobic rice (DSR) is an emerging attractive alternative to traditional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) production system for reducing labour and irrigation water requirements in the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) of India. The fertilizer N requirement of DSR grown with alternate wetting and drying water management may differ from that of PTR grown under continuous flooding due to differences in N dynamics in the soil/water system and crop growth patterns. Limited studies have been conducted on optimizing N management and application schedule for enhanced N use efficiency in DSR. Therefore, field experiments were conducted over 3 years in NW India to evaluate the effects of N rate and timing of its application on crop performance and N use efficiency. Interaction effects of four N rates (0, 120, 150, and 180 kg ha−1) as urea and four schedules of N application on yield and N use efficiency were evaluated in DSR. The N schedules included N application in three equal split doses (0, 35 and 63, and 14, 35 and 63 days after sowing, DAS) and four equal split doses (0, 28, 49 and 70; 14, 28, 49 and 70 DAS). There was no significant interaction between N rate and schedules on grain yield. Significant response to fertilizer N was observed at 120 kg N ha−1and economic optimum dose for three equal split doses and skipping N at sowing was 130 kg N ha−1. Highest mean grain yield of 6.60 t ha−1was obtained when N was applied in three equal split doses at 14, 35 and 63 DAS which was about 8.5% higher compared with N applied in four equal split doses at 14, 28, 49 and 70 DAS. Under the best N application schedule, agronomic N use efficiency (26 kg grain kg−1), recovery efficiency (49%) and physiological efficiency (53 kg kg−1) were comparable to the values reported in Asia for PTR. Results from our study will help to achieve high yields and N use efficiency in DSR to replace resource intensive PTR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field experiments were conducted for two years to find out the appropriate sowing configuration and rate of nitrogen (N) for sustained yield and improved water use efficiency of hybrid Bt cotton irrigated through surface drip irrigation. Drip irrigation under normal sowing, in which equal quantities of water and N were applied as check-basin irrigation, resulted in an increase of 389 and 155 kg ha−1 in seed cotton yield compared with check-basin irrigation during the first and second year, respectively. Normal paired row sowing under a drip irrigation system, in which only 50% of irrigation water was applied compared with normal sowing, produced a yield similar to normal sowing under drip irrigation during both years, resulting in 22% higher water use efficiency. Dense paired row sowing under drip irrigation, in which only 75% irrigation water was applied compared with normal sowing, increased the mean seed cotton yield by 5% and water use efficiency by 19%. Decrease in the rate of nitrogen application (from 150 to 75 kg N ha−1) caused a decline in seed cotton yield and water use efficiency under all the methods of sowing, but the reverse was true for agronomic efficiency of N. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]