Split application of potassium on rice (Oryza saliva) in coastal zone of West Bengal

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the responseof 2 h i i d i n g rice . (OgmsafiwaL) of different varieties, IET 1444 (Rasi) and IET 4094 (Khii) duration, to split application of potassium vis-a-vis customary full dose of 60 kg &Oha as basal duringtherainy season of 1997 and 1998 on silty day soils. Split application of potassium was significantly superior, giving up to 14.47% higher yield to its application only as basal dose. An additional return up to Rs 501.08/ha was obtained from the diierent treatments consistingof diierent time of potassium application, the most economic treatment being the one, where half of the potassium was applied at transplanting and remaining half either at panicle-initiation stage (var. IET 1444) or in2 equal splits at tillering and panicle- initiation stage (var. IET 4094) synchronizing with 1 split dose of nitrogen. Key words : Rice, Split application, K, Economics