Nutrient Dynamics of Rice Cultivars under Different Irrigation Regimes and Systems of Cultivation

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigated the performance of rice cultivars under the best method of irrigation and system of cultivation on clay loam soils of Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, during the kharif seasons of 2017 and 2018. Thetreatment consisted of two irrigation regimes, viz. alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and saturation as main plot treatments; three establishment methods, viz. system of rice intensification (SRI), drum seeding (DS), and normal transplanting (NT) as subplot treatments; and four cultivars, namely DRR Dhan 42, DRR Dhan 43, MTU-1010, and NLR-34449 as sub-sub plot treatments summing up to 24 treatment combinations laid out in split–split plot design with three replications. Among the irrigation regimes, AWD noticed significantly superior nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium uptake at 60, 90 DAS/DAT, and at harvest during 2017 and 2018 as compared to saturation. Between irrigation regimes, AWD recorded significantly superior N, P, and K use efficiency as compared to saturation. At 60, 90 DAS/DAT, and at harvest, SRI method recorded significantly superior N, P, and K uptake as compared to NT and DS during both the years. Higher NUE of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium was observed with SRI than DS and NT methods. N, P, and K uptake was significantly superior with DRR Dhan 43 at 60, 90 DAS, and harvest during both the years of study followed by MTU-1010. Among the rice cultivars, higher N, P, and K use efficiency was recorded in DRR Dhan 43 over other rice cultivars.