TIMING OF NITROGEN APPLICATION – ITS EFFECT ON NITROGEN UTILIZATION AND PROTEIN CONTENT OF RICE

• Published in: Plant and soil 1975-04, Vol.42 (2), p.349-358
• Main Authors: NAGARAJAH, S., JAUFFER, M. M. M., WILLENBERG, S. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fertilizers; Flag leaf; Grains; Nitrogen; Plant dietary protein; Planting; Plants; Rice; Rice soils; Split fertilizer application
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00010010

Field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of timing of nitrogen application on grain yield, nitrogen utilization and protein content of rice. The treatments included single applications of 100 kg N/ha at planting, 2 weeks after planting, 7 days before primordial initiation stage, flag leaf stage and heading stage. Three methods of basal application and an application consisting of four equal split doses were also tested. N¹⁵-labelled ammonium sulphate was applied to sub-plots to determine fertilizer-N uptake. Two varieties of rice Bg 11-11 (dry season) and Bg 34-8 (wet season) were grown. On the basis of grain yield no significant differences among the three methods of basal application were obtained. Fertilizer-N uptake data indicated placement of fertilizer in furrows at 5 cm depth to be the best method of basal application. On an average, the variety Bg 34-8 utilized more fertilizer N than variety Bg 11-11. Although nitrogen application at flag leaf and heading stages resulted in high fertilizer-N uptake they did not bring about substantial increases in grain yield; instead, the protein content of the grain was considerably increased.