Fertilizer management for aerobic rice production system

Rice is one of the favored staple foods sustaining Asian countries. Its demand increases with increasing population, however, yield of aerobic rice keeps declining when grown continuously and this is attributed to nutrient stresses and soil fertility status, particularly, soil organic matter content, which is attributed to limited practice of recycling organic residues. This field experiment was conducted during dry season from December 2014 to April 2015 at College of Agriculture, Department of Crop Science, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines to determine the effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers on growth and yield of NSIC Rc 23 under aerobic rice production system. Treatments included; 1) Control, (2) RROF (6t/ha), (3) RRIF -120-45-60 kg N, P2O5, and K2O/ha, (4)100%RRIF+ 100%RROF and (5) B5-50% RRIF+ 100%RROF.Treatments were laid out in randomized complete block design(RCBD) with three replications. Organic fertilizers at 6t/ha (convectional compost) were incorporated into the soil before planting in the respective plots, Inorganic fertilizers were split applied based on soil test results. Data Gathered included both selected crop growth and yield parameters (days to maturity, plant height at maturity (cm, total number of tillers per linear meter, number of productive tillers per linear meter, length of panicle (cm), number of filled spikelets per panicle, weight of 1000 grains (g), computed grain yield (t/ha) and straw yield (t/h). Application of inorganic fertilizers alone and in combination with organic fertilizers had significant and comparable effects on growth and yield components of NSIC Rc23 which was not the case with effects from Organic fertilizers. Application of half the recommended rate of inorganic fertilizers (120-45-60 kg N, P2O5, and K2O/ha) combined with organic fertilizers at 6t/ha could be recommended for improved yield of NSIC Rc23 under aerobic rice production system. Keywords: Chemical fertilizers, convectional compost, nutrient recycling, nutrient stresses, rice, soil fertility, yield