Madras Agric. J. 92 (10-12) : 718 - 721 October-December - 2005

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RESEARCH NOTES

INFLUENCE OF K - HUMATE ON THE YIELD AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF RICE K. SIVAKUMAR1 and L. DEVARAJAN2 1. Dept. of Soil Science and Agrl. Chemistry, Facully of Agrl., Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar - 608 002 2. Dept. of Soil Science and Agrl. Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Agrl. University, Coimbatore- 641 003

Rice is an important cereal crop, which is cultivated in 42.7 mha in India and the annual production and productivity is 82.2 mt and 2.91 t ha-1 respectively (India, 2002). The production of rice is comparatively lower than other rice producing countries. In Tamil Nadu, rice production occupies 73.6 per cent of the total area cultivated with cereals and 88.1 per cent of the total cereal production. Rice is cultivated in 1.03 Lha in Thirunelveli and Tuticorin districts which covers 4.8 per cent of the total rice area in Tamil Nadu. Humic acid, a component of soil organic matter has the ability to complex with metal ions and to interact with clay minerals. Humic acid, extracted from lignite can be added externally as a source of organic matter which will help to tide over the situation. Neyveli Lignite Corporation is engaged in extraction of humic acid from lignite and the test material is in the form of water soluble potassium humate, which is commercially referred as ‘Humi Gold’. The present study was taken up with a view to evaluate the response of rice to humic acid as Khumate in the Manakkarai soil series at AC and Rl, Killikulam with split plot design replicated thrice.The initial soil properties were pH 7.7, EC 0.3 dSm-1 , OC 6.2 gkg-1, KMn04-N 176 kgha-1, Olsen-P 19.0 kgha-1, NH 4 OAc-K 160 kgha -1 . The soil belongs to Manakkarai series with fine, non acid, kaolinitic, isomegathermic family of Typic Rhodustalf. The treatments included three main plots M1 - Control, M 2- 75 per cent NPK and M3 - 100 per cent NPK (100:50:50). The subplots included eight treatments S 1 - No HA; S2 - 10 kg ha -1 HA as soil application (SA); S 3 - 20 kg ha-1 HA (SA); S4- 30 kgha-1 HA (SA); S 5- 40 kg ha-1 HA (SA); S6- S2 + 0.1 per cent Foliar spray (FS); S7 - S2 + 0.3per cent Root dipping (RD) and S8 - S2 + 0.1 per cent FS+ 0.3 per cent RD. The yield of rice and uptake by plant were recorded.

The uptake of nutrients in rice was calculated with the plant nutrient content and biomass production. The results of the experiment showed that the rice grain yield was significantly increased by fertilizer application. The grain yield was increased from 2260 (control) to 4088 kg ha-1 (100 % fertilizer) (Table 1). The per cent increase in the grain yield in 75 per cent and 100 per cent NPK over no fertilizer was 46.5 and 80.9 respectively. The soil application of humic acid at different levels significantly increased the grain yield; 20 kg HA ha -1 (S 3 ) registered the highest grain yield of 3413 kg ha-1, followed by 30 kg HA ha-1 (3285 kg ha-1,) (S4). The treatments S6, S7 and S8 receiving 0.1 per cent HA as FS or 0.3 per cent HA as RD alone or in combination with 10 kg HA ha-1 as soil application recorded grain yield of 3251, 3280 and 3365 kg ha-1 respectively. The interaction effect of fertilizer and humic acid on grain yield was also significant. The highest grain yield was recorded by the conjoint application of 100 per cent NPK and 20 kg HA ha-1 (M3S3) (4375 kg ha-1). The data on the grain yield showed a marked increase for the application of humic acid upto 20 kg HA ha -1 beyond which there was a marginal decline in the yield. With regard to the mode of application of humic acid, it showed that the humic acid applied @ 10 kg ha-1 coupled with FS or RD or both, registered a significant increase in the grain yield than 10 kg HA ha-1 (soil application) alone. Haripriya et al, (2002) reported that the increased yield might be due to the efficient utilization of nutrients, improved aeration and water holding capacity as observed in the humic acid applied treatments. The favourable effect of foliar spraying of humic acid on the crop yield (Nair, 1995) was attributed to the increased content of chlorophyll in the leaves and enhanced photosynthetic activity and higher uptake of nutrients like P (Senthilkumar, 1995).

INFLUENCE OF K - HUMATE ON THE YIELD AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF RICE

Fertilizer levels significantly increased the N uptake from 12.6 to 58.3 kg ha-1 (Table 2) in grain. The humic acid at different levels significantly increased the N uptake of grains; 20 kg HA ha-1 recorded the highest N uptake of 42.9 kg ha-1. The treatments receiving 0.1 per cent HA as FS or 0.3 per cent HA as RD alone or in combination with the soil application of 10 kg HA ha-1, recorded higher N uptake of 40.3, 40.8 and 42.0 kg ha-1 respectively in grain. The increase in nitrogen uptake by humic acid application was noticed upto 20 kg HA ha-1. Humic acid might have influenced the plant growth directly through its effects on ion uptake or by the effects on the plant growth regulators. The considerable increase in the uptake of nitrogen with humic acids was also obtained in the studies of Satishkumar (1997). The perusal of the data on P uptake in grain showed that the fertilizer application significantly increased the P uptake from 3.54 to 9.39 kg ha-1 (Table 2). The highest P uptake of 7.67 kg ha-1 in grain proved the superiority of the treatment receiving 20 kg HA ha-1 as soil application over the rest of the treatments. The treatments S 6, S7 and S8 receiving 0.1 per cent HA as FS or 0.3 per cent HA as RD alone or in combination with 10 kg HA ha-1 recorded higher P uptake of 6.82,7.04 and 7.32 kg ha’1 respectively in grain. Addition of humic acid maintained high levels of acid phosphatase activity and this increased phosphatase activity holds key for increased P uptake by plants (Malcom and Vaughan, 1979). The fertilizer application exerted a significant increase in K uptake from 3.39 to 15.68 kg ha-1 in grain (Table 2). The uptake of potassium also showed similar results as in the case of nitrogen and phosphorus. The soil application of humic acid @ 20 kg HA ha-1 proved to be superior over the rest of the treatments with regard to K uptake in grain, which recorded 11.23 kg ha-1. Rice, being a monocot, could have taken up more amount of K by virtue of its high root CEC (Tisdale et al, 1997).This might

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be the reason for the marked increase in the K uptake with the increase in the fertilizers dose from 75 per cent NPK to 100 per cent and upto 20 kg HA ha-1. REFERENCES : Haripriya, K., Kamalakannan, S., Sathappan, C.T., Umamaheswari,T and Poonkodi,P (2002). Influence of humic acid on flower production in tuberose. In: National seminar on recent trends on the use of humic substances for sustainable agriculture, Feb - 27 and 28, 2002, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu. India. (2002). A Reference annual. Ministry of information and broadcasting. Government of India. New Delhi. Malcom, R.L. and Vaughan, D. (1979). Humic substances and phosphatase activities in plant tissues. Soil Biochem., 11: 253 - 259. Nair, M.R. (1995). Studies on the influence of foliar application of humic acid on soil fertility attributes and response of ADT36 rice in Periyar Vagai command area. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis submitted to and approved by Agrl. College and Res. Inst., Madurai, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Satishkumar, B. (1997). Extraction and characterization of humic acids and their effect on the performance of soybean, M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis submitted to and approved by Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu. Senthilkumar, K. (1995). Studies on the effect of lignite derived humic substances and nitrogen on low land rice. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis submitted to and approved by Annimalai University, Tamil Nadu. Tisdale, S.L., Nelson, W.L., Beaton, J.D. and Havlin,J.L. (1997). Soil fertility and fertilizers. (5th ed.) Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

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TABLE 1. EFFECT OFHUMICACIDAND FERTILIZERS ON GRAIN YIELD OF RICE (ASI 16) Grain yield (kg ha-1) Treatment

M1

M2

M3

Mean

S1

1817

2933

3617

2789

S2

2283

3233

3983

3166

S3

2367

3498

4375

3413

S4

2327

3395

4133

3285

S5

2296

3294

4033

3208

S6

2302

3315

4137

3251

S7

2338

3343

4159

3280

S8

2353

3476

4266

3365

Mean

2260

3311

4088

3220

SEd

CD (P = 0.05)

M

30.82

85

S

25.07

50

M at S

50.98

117

S at M

43.42

87

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INFLUENCE OF K - HUMATE ON THE YIELD AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF RICE

Table 2. Effect of humit acid and fertilizers on N, P and K uptake (kgha-1) of rice grain N Treatment

P

K

M1

M2

M3

Mean

M1

M2

M3

Mean

M1

M2

M3

Mean

S1

10.5

47.5

55.8

37.9

3.42

7.26

8.28

6.32

2.28

10.87

14.19

9.11

S2

11.6

49.1

56.9

39.2

3.55

7.81

8.76

6.71

2.52

11.56

15.09

9.72

S3

14.2

54.1

60.4

42.9

3.70

8.96

10.34

7.67

4.25

12.63

16.81

11.23

S4

13.8

53.5

59.3

42.2

3.64

8.64

9.88

7.39

3.88

12.12

16.34

10.78

S5

13.5

52.8

58.5

41.6

3.50

8.38

9.54

7.14

3.36

11.94

15.60

10.30

S6

11.9

51.5

57.6

40.3

3.57

8.19

9.15

6.97

3.12

11.84

16.04

10.28

S7

12.3

51.9

58.1

40.8

3.59

8.31

9.36

7.09

3.85

11.75

15.52

10.37

S8

13.4

53.5

59.2

42.0

3.64

8.50

9.82

7.50

3.89

12.46

16.04

10.80

Mean

12.7

51.7

58.3

41.2

3.58

8.26

9.39

7.10

3.39

11.90

15.68

10.32

SEd

CD (p = 0.05)

SEd

CD (p = 0.05)

SEd

CD (p = 0.05)

M

0.33

0.9

0.04

0.10

0.06

0.15

S

0.86

1.7

0.13

0.27

0.20

0.40

M at S

1.43

NS

NS

NS

NS

NS

S at M

1.49

NS

NS

NS

NS

NS