Balanced fertilization in rice (Oryza sativa)groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) cropping system

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in farmers field of Angul district under mid-central table land zone of Odisha by involving 48 farmers during 201315, to study the response of rice (Oryza sativa L.)groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cropping system to balanced nutrient application. The highest system rice-equivalent yield (REY) (10.78 t/ha) was recorded with the recommended doses of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N, P and K @ 80, 17.5 and 33 kg) + 25 kg ZnSO /ha to rice and recommended doses of N, P and K @ (40, 17.5 and 33 kg/ha) + 4 250 kg CaSO /ha to groundnut followed by recommended NPK alone without ZnSO /CaSO (10.36 t/ha). The av- 4 4 4 erage increase in system REY of these 2 treatments was 73 and 66% over the control (6.23 t/ha) and 25 and 20% over the farmers practice (8.63 t/ha). Agronomic efficiency (AE) of N, P and K was 19.8, 29.0 and 17.2 kg REY/kg applied nutrient for ricegroundnut system. The agronomic efficiency of N increased by 49, 55 and 108% in rice groundnut system by applying the recommended quantity of N with recommended quantity of P, K and PK, re- spectively, instead of N alone. The AE of P and K increased by 40 and 34% in ricegroundnut system when the recommended quantity of P or K was applied with recommended quantity of NK or NP instead of with N alone. Ap- plication of NPK + ZnSO to rice and NPK + CaSO to succeeding groundnut recorded the highest system net re- 4 4 turns ( 63,123/ha) followed by application of recommended NPK to both the crops ( 60,509/ha). These 2 treat- ments also recorded higher nutrient uptake due to the high biomass production with application of balanced nutri- ents.