Organic nutrient management in aromatic rice-rice sequence: A critical review

Abstract

Rice is the most important cereal crop and staple food consumed by more than half of the world’s human population. Based on the presence of aroma, rice is categorized as the aromatic and non-aromatic rice. Aromatic rice is an important food grain crop and preferred by majority of human population. Most of the aromatic rice (short and long grain cultivars) varieties are low yielding, exhibiting inferior agronomic performance, highly sensitive to the environmental condition. Among several management practices, nutrient management is of utmost importance for its role not only in growth and development of the crop but also the maintenance of soil health and quality of the produce. At present, the farmers cultivate such premium aromatic rice following chemical-based agricultural practices which has increased productivity with inferior grain quality, degraded soil health and increased environmental pollution. Thus, it has been realized that organic nutrient management in aromatic rice is to be given paramount importance so as to attain sustainability in production and high economic return with better quality of produce. Different sources of organic manures seemed to have differential effects not only on the soil health but also on the quality of aromatic rice. Most of the cases poultry manure is considered to be one of the best organic sources when it is used after one season. Besides, other organic sources like FYM and concentrated manure are also better in sustaining crop productivity, maintaining soil health and reducing environmental pollution as compared to that with chemical farming.