Increasing rice grain yield by split application of nitrogen rates

NurulNahar, E.*, Shajarutulwardah, M. Y. and Hartinee, A.

Abstract
Rice is the world’s second most commonly grown cereal crop and more than half its population consumes it as a carbohydrate source. Proper nitrogen management is the key to improve rice grain production. This study aimed to determine the critical nitrogen split application time and proportion at different rice growth stages. A total of 15 nitrogen split applications were evaluated in randomised complete block design (RCBD) with three replications at Ladang Merdeka Mulong, KADA, Kelantan during off-season in 2019 and main-season in 2019/2020. The fertiliser rate of 105 kg N/ha : 52 kg P2O5/ha : 87 kg P2O5/ha was used in off-season in 2019/2020 and 97 kg N/ha : 43 kg P2O5/ ha : 84 kg was used in main-season 2019/2020. The results showed that different splitting applications and amounts of nitrogen significantly influenced the number of panicles/m2, spikelets/m2 and the rice grain yield. Spikelets/panicle, percentage of filled grain and 1000 grain weight were similar for all treatments. Our findings suggested that, applying nitrogen at three different stages (20% of nitrogen at 3-leaf stage, 30% at active tillering and 50% at 10 days before panicle initiation) is an effective strategy in increasing rice grain yield.

Keywords: split nitrogen, rice grain, fertilisation, grain yield

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