Growth and Yield of Rice as Influenced by Rice Husk Biochar and Nitrogen Levels during Kharif Season

Aim: Impact of rice husk biochar and nitrogen levels on growth and yield of kharif rice.

Study Design: The experiment was laid out in a spilt plot design with different biochar doses in main plots and different nitrogen levels in subplots and was replicated thrice.

Place and Duration of Study: The field experiment was conducted during the kharif season of 2020 and 2021 at the Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla, ANGRAU, Lam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

Methodology: The experiment was performed with twenty treatments in a split-plot design. The main plot comprised four biochar treatments and a subplot with five different nitrogen levels. Rice variety "BPT-5204" was taken as the test variety. The crop and soil observations during the experimentation were recorded at regular intervals. The test examined the significance of the treatment impact.

Results: Results of the experiment revealed that among the biochar treatments, the application of biochar @ 7.5 t ha-1 treatment showed the highest plant growth parameters at harvest like plant height (104.8 and 107.0 cm), number of tillers m-2 (361.6 and 369.6), leaf area index (3.69 and 3.71) and yield parameters, i.e., the number of panicles m-2 (302.5 and 304.9), grain (5706 and 5860 kg ha-1) and straw yields (7347 and 7570 kg ha-1) and was found statistically at par with the application of biochar @ 5.0 t ha-1 treatment and significantly superior over rest of the treatments during kharif of 2020 and 2021. Plant height (106.2 and 108.1 cm), number of tillers m-2 (368.3 and 374.2), leaf area index (3.72 and 3.84), the number of panicles m-2 (284.9 and 289.6), grain yield (5865 and 5997 kg ha-1), and straw yield (7631 and 7848 kg ha-1) were significantly the highest with the application of 160 kg N ha-1, which was found statistically at par with 120 kg N ha-1 treatment and significantly superior over other treatments.