Growth parameters, yield and economics of rice as influenced by application of different doses of nano urea

Introduction

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important cereal crops. It is a rich source of carbohydrate as it contains a moderate amount of fat and protein and is also a source of vitamin B complex such as thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. Rice protein, though small in amount, is of high nutritional value and bran is used as cattle and poultry feed. Rice plays a major role in global food security, as it is the staple food for over the half of the world's population. About 90% of rice grown in the world is produced and consumed in Asia. Rice is produced under both upland and lowland ecosystems with about 76% of the global rice produced from irrigatedlowland rice systems (Fageria et al., 2003) [4] . Nitrogen is one of most important nutrient required for growth and development of rice. It is a constituent of compounds such as amino acids, proteins, RNA, DNA and several phytohormones and is thereby an essential macro element for plants. During vegetative stage rice plants require nitrogen to promote growth and tillering, which in turn determines potential number of panicles. It is essential for the synthesis of protein, which is the constituent of protoplasm and chloroplast. Nano urea is suitable source of application for nitrogen for most of the crops and has better use efficiency than conventional urea and because of the ultra-small size and surface properties, the liquid nano urea gets absorbed by plants more effectively when sprayed on their leaves. Upon penetration, these nano particles reach plant parts where nitrogen is required and release nutrients in a controlled manner, thereby reducing usage while also reducing wastage into the environment.

Materials and Methods

The experiment was conducted at Research Farm S.G. CARS Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh in Randomized Block Design using ten treatments which were replicated three times. The experimental plot soil was low in available N and P, high in available K, medium in organic carbon with acidic in reaction. The total rainfall received during crop season 867.10 mm. The variety Samleswari 20 days seedling was transplanted on dated 3 rd August 2021 and harvested on dated 20 th November 2021. Healthy seedling was transplanted at the planting distance of 20 cm x 15 cm in all the plots and recommended fertilizer dose of 100:50:30 N:P:K (kg ha -1 ).

Results and Discussion

Growth parameter and yield

The significantly taller plant (104.73 cm.) was recorded under treatment T 5 which was at par with treatment T 4 and T 6 . Under nano urea cells growth increase which might be a reason for increase in the plant. These result findings were in close agreement with the findings of Benzon et al. (2015) [3] . The higher dry matter accumulation (59.30 g hill -1 ) was recorded under treatment T 5 which was at par with treatments T 4 and T 6 . The dry matter accumulation is increased by the release of nutrient while application and its absorption translocation and conversion of energy for growing parts. Nearly similar results were found by Aziz et al. (2021) [2] . The significantly higher crop growth rate (0.94 g hill -1 day -1 ) was noticed under treatment T 5 which was at par with treatment T 4 and T 6 . Similar results were found by Gewaily et al. (2019) [5] . The higher relative growth rate (0.025 g g -1 hill -1 day -1 ) was noticed under treatment T 5 which was at par with treatment T 4 and T 6 . The higher plant height, and the leaf area index with more number of tillers directly contributes the growth parameters of rice which results in higher relative growth rate. These findings are in agreement with those reported by Rahman et al. (2020) [8] . The higher Leaf area index (4.29) was noticed under treatment T 5 which was at par with treatment T 4 and T 6 . Nano urea enhances the number of leaves by the foliar application and as number of leaves increases the related factors such as leaf area index also increase. Similar findings were reported by Hussain et al. (2021) [6] . The higher number of tillers (356.67 m -2 ) recorded under treatment T 5 which was at par with treatment T 4 and T 6 . This is due to increased photosynthetic rate, better accumulation of sucrose, glucose as well as fructose in leaves, which might have increased the physiological parameters of the plant which resulted in higher number of tillers. Nearly similar results were found by Rathnayaka et al. (2018) [9] . The highest grain yield was observed under treatment T 5 which was at par T 4 and T 6. Application of nano urea increases grain yield it is mainly because of increasing growth of plant parts and metabolic process such as photosynthesis results in higher photosynthates accumulation and translocation to the economic parts of the plant. Similar findings were reported by Kumar et al. (2020) [7] .

Economics

The significantly highest gross return, net return and B:C ratio was observed under treatment T 5 which was at par T 4 and T 6 . Foliar application of nano urea results in the highest gross return, net return and B:C ratio which might be due to the higher grain and straw yields These results are in consonance with Kumar et al. (2021) [1] .

Conclusion

75% of RDN + Two foliar sprays of nano urea (AT and PI) was found higher than the other combinations of nano urea followed by 50% of RDN + Two foliar sprays of nano urea (AT and PI) and 100% of RDN +Two foliar sprays of nano urea (AT and PI) regarding the growth attributes, yield and economics of rice. Nano urea due to smaller particle diameters which penetrates more into the roots and leaves of plants improves the physiological traits and yield of crops and simultaneously reduces pollution of groundwater and diseases which is caused by overusing of conventional urea prills/granular.

References

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