Flood to lerance of rice at different crop growth stages as affected by fertilizer application

Abstract

Experiments were carried out in greenhouse as well as in field conditions to study the effect of N, P and K fertilization on the performance of rice crop submerged completely at different growth stages. The crop fertilized with N alone or in combination with P could withstand the onslaught of flood and produced more number of tillers, panicles and grain yield than that supplied with K, either alone or in combination with P. Complete submergence of the crop at booting was found to be more deleterious than submergence at early (10–20 DAT) and active tillering (20–30 DAT) stages. The reduction in yield was attributed to cessation of panicle development and degeneration of spikelets in the crop submerged at booting stage and the reduction in tiller number and grains per panicle in the crop submerged at early and active tillering stages. However, partial submergence at booting caused less damage to the crop. Regeneration of late nodal tillers after the complete submergence at booting was a notable observation.