Evaluation of potassium management strategy for higher productivity in direct seeded rice
Loading...
Files
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Agronomy, BAU, Sabour
Abstract
The Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) technique is becoming popular these days due to the low input demanding nature. Declining of soil fertility and exploration of ground water has lead to evolution of an alternative crop production approach i.e. DSR. The DRS requires less water, labour and curtail the greenhouse emission. After nitrogen the potassium (K) is the most uptaking nutrient from the soil solution pool. However, K incorporation is neglected by the farmers which may cause negative imbalance of K in soil solution. Now days, the demand of K fertilizers has significantly increased by several folds to sustain the rice productivity. The research trial was performed on DSR during kharif 2019 at Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, to study the evaluation of potassium management strategy for higher productivity in direct seeded rice. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design consisting ten treatments replicated thrice. The first treatment was considered as control where K was not applied but N and P were applied as per recommendation. In the next two treatments K was applied @ 40 kg ha-1 K2O as basal (T2) and 40 kg K2O ha-1 in two equal split as basal and at active tillering stage (T3). In the treatment T4 and T5 there was 150% recommended dose of potassium i.e. 60 kg K2O ha-1 as basal and 30 kg each in basal and at active tillering stage, respectively. The potassium dose was further increased up to 200% i.e. 80 kg K2O ha-1 as basal (T6) and equally in two splits as basal and at active tillering stage (T7). The next two treatments were inclusion of biofertilizer KSB (Potassium Solubilizing bacteria) in the seed treatment with 60 kg K2O ha-1 as basal (T8) and in T9 it was 30 kg K2O ha-1 through Muriate of Potash along with 10 kg K2O through vermicompost as basal were applied under KSB treated seed of rice. Here in the experiment the KSB was applied @ 20g kg-1 seed. Treatment T10 was considered as absolutely control where no fertilizer was applied. The growth parameters like number of tillers, leaf area index (LAI), dry matter accumulation and yield attributing components likes number of panicles per m2 and filled grains per panicle were found significantly higher under the application of 60 kg K2O ha-1 in two splits (T5) over the recommended 40 kg K2O ha-1 application as basal (T2). Treatments under the 80 kg K2O ha-1 (T6 and T7) were found statistically similar with the treatments having 60 kg K2O ha-1 in two splits. The grains per panicle against the 60 kg K2O ha-1 in two split (T5) and 60 kg K2O with KSB incorporation (T8) were gained 15.95% and 12% higher over the recommended dose of K i.e. 40 kg K2O ha-1 as basal (T2). The grain yield was recorded maximum in the above mentioned treatments T5 (4647 kg ha-1) and T8 (4653 kg ha-1) which were statistically higher over all the treatment received only 40 Kg K2O ha-1 (T2, T3, and T9). However, further increment of K dose i.e. 80 kg K2O ha-1 (T6 and T7) did not prove superiority over the 60 kg K2O ha-1 and maintained similar economic output with the treatments T5 and T8. The Agronomic K use efficiency (AEK) and the partial factor productivity of applied K (PFPK) were noted higher (40.83% and 33.91%) against 60 kg K2O ha-1 as compared to that of 80 kg K2O ha-1 (Averaged over 60 and 80 kg K2O ha-1). Hence it can be suggested that the increment of potassium dose up to 60 Kg K2O ha-1 in two equal split application as basal and at active tillering stages or the same amount as basal application with KSB inoculation can be useful to maintaining rice productivity under DSR establishment method with increasing K use efficiency and higher profitability.