Effect of Nutrient Management in Lowland Rice for Improving Productivity, Profitability and Energetics under the Mid Hill of Nagaland
On-Farm trail was conducted in Longleng district of Nagaland during the kharif season of 2014-15 and 2015-16 to find out the most suitable nutrient management practices viz. recommended doses of fertilizers (RDF) 80:60:40 kg NPK/ha, locally available weed biomass (Eupatorium @ 10 t/ha) and farmers practices at farmers field of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Longleng, Nagaland. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Block Design. Result revealed that growth and yield parameters were recorded maximum under RDF and followed by Eupatorium @ 10 t/ha compared to farmers practice. The maximum grain yield (3590 kg/ha) was with RDF closely followed by weed biomass @10t/ha (3270 kg/ha) over the farmer's practices (2730 kg/ha), respectively. Grain yield was increased by 31.5 % in RDF and 11.8 % in Eupatorium @ 10 t/ha compared to the farmer's practices. Similarly, production efficiency was recorded the highest with RDF (28 kg/ha/day) followed by Eupatorium @ 10 t/ha (25.5 kg/ha/day) and farmers practice (21.3 kg/ha/day). With respect to economics, the maximum net returns and benefit: cost ratio (B: C ratio) were recorded with RDF (Rs.18850/ha and 1.91) as compared to other treatments. Economic efficiency was also noted highest under RDF (Rs.147.27/ha/day) followed by Eupatorium @10 t/ha (Rs.128.36/ha/day). Hence, it may be concluded that the farmer’s practices can be replaced with the adoption of RDF or locally available weed biomass (Eupatorium) as a source of nutrition for achieving the higher productivity and profitability of the lowland rice under the mid-hill altitude condition of Nagaland