Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizers Applied through Nano Clay Polymer Composites on Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Rice
K. R. Rakshitha
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
Kapil Atmaram Chobhe
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
R. Dandapani
Division of Plant Physiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
R. N. Sahoo
Division of Agricultural Physics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
Anil Kumar
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
Ravi Saini
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
K. M. Manjaiah *
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for crop growth. However, excessive nitrogen fertilizer application leads to environmental losses. In this study, an attempt was made to reduce the nitrogen losses by loading of urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) into Nano clay polymer composites (NCPCs) to act as slow release N fertilizers. To achieve the objectives of the present study, five N fertilizer treatments (T1-control, T2- N applied through urea, T3- N applied through UAN, T4- N applied through NCPC loaded with urea and T5- N applied through NCPC loaded with UAN) were assessed using three rice genotypes namely IR-64, Nagina 22 and MTU 1010. Results of the greenhouse study indicated that the UAN loaded NCPC treatment was more effective in terms of increasing the grain yield, nitrogen uptake, agronomic use efficiency and apparent nitrogen recovery by 36.9%, 51.0%, 64.2%, and 92.0% over urea, respectively. Amongst the genotypes, MTU 1010 was recorded with highest gran yield followed by IR-64 and Nagina-22.
Keywords: Rice, genotypes, nitrogen use efficiency, nano clay polymer composites, urea ammonium nitrate