Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science

A field experiment was carried out at Agricultural Research Station, Gangavati, Karnataka, during two seasons (summer and kharif 2006) to study the influence of nutrient levels on grain yield and nutrient uptake of rice (Oryza sativa L.) under system of rice intensification (SRI) and traditional methods of cultivation. The experiment was laid out on deep black clay (Calciustert) soil by adopting split-split plot design. The treatments consisted of two methods of cultivation (SRI and traditional) as main plots and five nutrient levels (100% RDF, 75% RDF, 75% RDF + biofertilizers, 50% RDF, 50% RDF + biofertilizers) as sub-plots and two Zn levels (10 and 25 kg ZnSO₄ ha⁻¹) as sub-sub plots. The SRI method recorded significantly higher grain yield (6.69 t ha⁻¹), uptake of N (56.0 kg ha⁻¹), P (11.3 kg ha⁻¹), K (91.6 kg ha⁻¹) and Zn (426 kg ha⁻¹) by grains and residual soil available N (183 kg ha⁻¹) at harvest as compared to traditional method. Application of 75% RDF + biofertilizers resulted in significantly higher grain yield, uptake of N, P, K and Zn by grains and residual available N, P, Zn compared to other treatments.