Nutrient management of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties in coconut garden

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm of the College of Agriculture, Vellayani during the first crop season of 2000 to study the nutrient management of upland rice varieties in coconut garden. The experiment was laid out in 3 x 3 x 2 asymmetrical confounded factorial design with 2 replications. The treatments included 2 varieties (Swarnaprabha and Mattatriveni), three levels of nitrogen (40, 60, 80 kg ha') and three levels of potassium (15, 30, 45 kg ha"). Results of the experiment revealed that the varieties and different levels of nitrogen and potassium had significant influence on most of the biometric and yield attributing characters of upland rice. Fertilizing the crop at 80 kg N ha": and 45 kg K20 halwas found to significantly influence the biometric and yield attributes. Among the varieties, Mattatriveni was superior to Swarnaprabha in most of the biometric and yield attributing characters. The quality characters like proline content, protein content and chlorophyll content were significantly influenced by the highest levels of nitrogen and potassium. Mattatriveni recorded the highest protein content and Swarnaprabha recorded the maximum proline content. The uptake of nutrients was profoundly influenced by the different treatments.Increaseduptake of nutrients was recorded at higher levels of nitrogen and potassium. Mattatriveni registered the highest uptake of nutrients at all growth stages. Increasing the levels of nitrogen and potassium increased the soil available nutrients. Plots grown with Mattatriveni registered the highest values for soil available nitrogen and potassium. The results of the economic analysis revealed that BeR was maximum with the highest levels of N (80 kg ha") and K (45 kg ha-1). The varieties did not differ in the benefit cost ratio.