Some Aspects of Nitrogen Management and Its Real Time Application in Direct Seeded Rice Using Leaf Color Chart

Proper application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer is vital to improve the growth and grain yield of rice crop. As there prevails more aerobic period in direct seeded rice, nitrogen loss is generally more in such environment. Therefore, nitrogen recommendation for direct seeded rice is slightly higher (22.5-30 Kg ha-1) than that under the transplanted rice. Insufficient and/or inappropriate nitrogen fertilizer application is highly critical to the crops. Optimal nitrogen management strategies aim at matching the nitrogen fertilizer supply to the actual crop demand. Leaf color is generally used as a visual and subjective indicator of the rice crop need for nitrogen fertilizer. The Leaf Color Chart is a simple and inexpensive tool for real time nitrogen management in rice. It helps farmers to improve their decision-making process in nitrogen management. It provides the idea of when and how much nitrogen fertilizer to apply based on relative greenness of the rice leaf. In overall, LCC based nitrogen management improves productivity and profitability of the rice crop by nitrogen saving and ensuring its higher use efficiency.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 6(2): 81-86