Management strategy, uptake and translocation of nitrogen in tidal flooded rice ecosystem

Abstract

Enhancing rice yield is a great challenge for rice growers in the tidal flooded ecosystem, where poor agronomic management is one of the major constrains. Improve management practice (IMP) was compared with traditional farmers’ practice (TFP) in evaluating rice productivity, nutrient uptake, translocation and farm income in tidal flooded ecosystem. Results revealed that, IMP significantly produced higher number of panicles m−2, more grain panicle−1 and better grain filling. The rice cultivars produced 2.0 to 2.5 t grain ha−1 with TFP, while 3.0 to 4.0 t ha−1 with IMP. In different rice cultivars, the grain yield in IMP increased 12 to 60% over TFP. Similarly, the grains in IMP treatment absorbed 21.41 to 57.03 kg N ha−1 whereas only 15.85 to 46.94 kg N ha−1 in TFP plot. However, higher nitrogen (N) transfer from shoot to grain in IMP also suggests that the amount of N in soil was too low to meet the plant demand in TFP. Although, the IMP involved additional cost, but it gave significantly higher gross return (438 to 954 US$ha−1) and margin (397 to 913 US$ha−1) which added farm income upto 225 US$ha−1 over TFP. Hence, it could be concluded that IMP is a potential option for increasing grain yield and farm income during aman season in the tidal flooded ecosystem.