Abstract
Under the changing climate, fertilization regimes and weed infestation management in aromatic direct-seeded fine rice (DSR) remain vital for curbing environmental hazards and ensuring food security. A multi-year field study was undertaken to appraise the influence of fertilization techniques and weed-free periods on weed dynamics, nutrient uptake and paddy yield in a semi-arid environment. Treatments included two fertilization methods (broadcasting and side placement) and five weed-free durations (20, 30, 40, 50 post-seeding days, DAS) along with a weed-free crop for a whole season. Weed competition for a season-long crop (weedy check) was maintained for each fertilizer application method. Our results revealed that the side placement of fertilizers resulted in a significantly lower weed density and biomass, even under season-long weed competition. The highest paddy yield was recorded for a crop without weeds, while weed-free duration of up to 50 DAS followed it. The uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) for a weed-free duration of up to 50 DAS were only 19%, 9% and 8%, respectively, as compared to the weedy check. The uptake of N, P and K by weeds in the broadcast method was 18%, 30% and 24% higher, compared to side-placed fertilizers. The period of 20–50 DAS remained critical in DSR as far as weed control was concerned. Thus, the side placement of fertilizers and controlling weeds for up to 50 days after rice sowing can be recommended for general adoption in semi-arid agro-ecological conditions.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) constitutes the major staple crop after wheat, which feeds billions of people across the globe and is referred to as the global grain [1,2,3]
The findings proved to be in line with the postulated hypothesis, as the fertilization technique and weed-free duration effectively influenced the weed infestation, yield attributes, paddy yield and nutrient uptake by crop plants in direct-seeded fine rice (DSR)
Our study suggested that maintaining weed-free plots for the whole crop season remained instrumental in yielding the highest paddy yield, and it was inferred that DSR requires 10 to 50 DAS weed-free days to achieve the optimum growth, maximum yield attributes and the highest paddy yield
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) constitutes the major staple crop after wheat, which feeds billions of people across the globe and is referred to as the global grain [1,2,3]. The broadcast fertilizer remained inferior to the side-band application method, owing to an increase in weed emergence and reduction in crop growth which reduced grain yield by 10% [27]. These findings suggested that the manipulation of crop fertilization application techniques may impart significant influence on weed density in DSR and must be evaluated in tandem with respect to CPWC [28,29]. Of the fertilization method constitutes a potent strategy to mitigate environmental pollution It is hypothesized fertilization regimes could a growth-restricting influence which is contributedthat to by methane emissions from exert rice fields. Was undertaken to appraise the influence of the fertilization methods and weed-free duration on weed dynamics, nutrient uptake and the paddy yield of DSR
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