Effect of Nitrogen and Potassium on Yield and Yield Components of

Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Introduction
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the world’s most important cereal crop and serves as
the primary source of staple food for more than half of the global population
(Emani et al., 2008).Rice is a staple food crop for more than 50% of the world
population (Fageria et al., 2003).To fulfill the growing demand, important to
increase production. By increasing the rice grain production, enhance food
security, farmer’s income and national economy. Application of suitable nutritional
elements is a critical strategy for increasing rice yield (Fageria and
Baligar.,1996).Fertilizer is one of the most important factors in rice production. It
causes yield to increase but this yield increase is a function of parameters such as
fertilizer application, application rate, climate and ecological condition. However,
fertilizer makes yield increase, over recommended application and also cultivating
varieties that do not respond positively to fertilizer introduction will result in yield
reduction up to 20-50 and 20-40%, respectively (Okhovat and Vakili,1997).
Nitrogen is a principle and constructing element of protein and plant needs a
great amount of it, one of the resources for chemical fertilizers is urea (CO(NH 2)2)
(Behdani,2011).It is one of the most important plant nutrients and plays a vital role
in plant photosynthesis and biomass production. Increasing panicle numbers in per
unit area is the main factor of yield increment as a result of nitrogen application
(Bindra et al.,2000, Laroo and Shivay,2011).High yield could be achieved
providing that enough nitrogen aggregation was accessible to rice plant during
growth season (Bofogol et al.,1997).There have been many studies about the effect
of nitrogen on rice and the results have emphasized that increasing nitrogen to a
specified limit would raise grain yield remarkably (Kazemi Poshtmasari et
al.,2008; Rezaei et al.,2009;Nahvi,2006;Lin et al.,2009;Lampin et al.,2010.In rice,
nitrogen fertilizer (50-70%) is inaccessible from ambient as gaseous which causes
irrigation systems pollution (Chadhari , 2000).Some remains in soil and it are just
1.3 out of applied fertilizers that is absorbed by plant. Nitrogen fertilizer is an
expensive input and applying less or more than optimum will affect rice quantity
and quality ( Manzor etal.,2006;Sheifoul et al.,2009).A suitable economic
approach should be employed for increasing yield quantitatively and qualitatively (
Manzor et al.,2006).
 Potassium is the most abundant nutrient in plants including rice plant. This is
especially true for improved cultivars that uptake K considerably up to four-fold
higher than native cultivars ( Dobbermann et al.,1998 and Bahmanyar and
Mashaee,2010).It is also one of the most important factors influencing crop
metabolism, growth, development and yield. Potassium has an outstanding role in
the physiology of rice yield increase. For instance , it causes rice in size , kernel
weight, stress tolerance including orifice opening and closing, resistance to
unfavorable weather conditions, improvement of tillering , stems strengthening
and reduction of lodging, higher resistance to diseases such as blast, leaf taint, stem
putrefaction (De Data and Mikelson , 1985).Water absorption and balance in
elements absorption need potassium in cells adequately. Potassium accounts for
crop quality improvement and it is necessary for a strong stem formation in cereal
crops (Haghparast , 1992).
Interaction effect of N and K was significant for number of grains per panicle,
hollow grain percentage, biological yield and harvest index. Potassium application
as top-dressing together with nitrogen increased potassium content of plant, grain
number in panicle and straw yield (Rajeev Kumar, et al., 2013).
This study was conducted due to positive impacts of nitrogen and potassium on
yield and yield components of rice and necessity for authentic application of
fertilizer in fields in order to achieve higher yield aiming at determination of
optimum fertilizer application.

Objectives of the study

The study will be carried out with the following objectives;
-To investigate the effect of different proportions of nitrogen and potassium in rice
yield production.
-The interaction of nitrogen and potassium on yield and yield components of rice.
Materials and Methods
Sin Thu Kha variety will be used in rice growing season.
Experimental Design and Treatments
Soil analysis will be conducted to know soil pH, CEC (cmol (+) kg -1), soil
texture, available K (%), available P (%), available N (%), total K (%) and total N
(%) from the experiment.

Treatments
N0-0 (control), K0-0 (control)
N1-85 kg N ha-1, K1-31 kg K ha-1
N2-114 kg N ha-1, K2-62 kg K ha-1
P-12 kg ha-1
Nine treatments will be assigned in a randomized complete block design
(RCBD) with four replications. Between treatments and each treatment will be
separated from the surrounding field about 1.0 m by double bunds to prevent other
contamination that effect on treatments such as mixing fertilizer during irrigation
or drainage.
Nitrogen supplied in the form of urea with N content of 46% and K fertilizer
was potassium chloride with K2O content of 60%. These fertilizers will be applied
in three splits at transplanting time (basal, active tillering and panicle
initiation).The basal fertilizer at the rate of triple super phosphate will be applied.
Crop Measurement
-Plant height
-Number of tillers per hill
-Number of panicles per hill
-Panicle length
-Number of grains per panicle
-Filled grain percentage
-Unfilled grain percentage
-1000 grain weight
-Harvest index (HI)
-Grain yield (kg/ha)
Statistical Procedure
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for observed data will be analyzed by statistics
th
(8 version) and the treatment means will be separated by least significant
difference value (LSD) at 5% level.

Expected Outcome
The result will provide the suitable rate of nitrogen and potassium for yield and
yield components of rice.