Effect of different approaches of fertilizer recommendations on yield, nutrient uptake and economics of rice under SRI

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2015 at the Experimental Farm of Department of Soil Science, CSK HPKV, Palampur to study the effect of different approaches of fertilizer application on yield, nutrients uptake and economics of rice under System of Rice Intensification (SRI). There were eight treatments (control, farmers’ practice, general recommended dose, soil test based, yield targets 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 and 5.0 t ha-1 replicated thrice in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The results revealed that all the levels for prescription based fertilizer application gave significantly higher grain and straw yield as compared to other approaches of fertilizer application barring few exceptions. Targeted yield treatments significantly increased the nutrients uptake over all other treatments. The soil test crop response (STCR) based fertilizer application treatments excelled all other approaches of fertilizer application in terms of net returns and benefit cost ratio. However, STCR approach for transplanted rice worked satisfactorily up to yield target of 4.0 t ha-1 beyond which deviation in yield from targeted yield was more than 10 per cent.