Influence of precision nitrogen management through crop sensors on growth and yield of aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2017 at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, UAS, Bengaluru in sandy loam soil. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with nine treatments, replicated thrice and cultivar used was MAS 946-1. The results revealed that nitrogen management through SPAD sufficiency index 96-100 per cent recorded significantly higher plant height (72.2 cm), number of tillers (45.8 hill-1), leaf area (2813 cm2 hill-1), total dry matter (136.2 g hill-1), higher productive tillers hill-1 (36.1), panicle length (24.5 cm), test weight (25.07 g) and total number of filled grains panicle-1 (156.8) with least chaffyness (8.42 %) ultimately resulted in higher grain (7353 kg ha-1) and straw yield (9151 kg ha-1). The nitrogen management through SPAD sufficiency index 96-100 per cent recorded higher gross returns (₹ 124021 ha-1) and net returns (₹ 75062 ha-1). Whereas, higher B: C ratio found with Green Seeker based nitrogen management (2.56).