Effect of Organic NPK Granules and Inorganic Fertilizers on Growth, Yield and Economics of Rice

Abstract

Modern intensive agriculture, which sparked the "Green Revolution" in the early 1970s, degraded the environment, which decreased productivity and had other negative impacts on the environment and public health. In order to improve the health of the agricultural environment, organic farming, which primarily forgoes the use of chemicals in agriculture, depends on a comprehensive production and management system. The multitude of microorganisms in the soil under this holistic management method ensures that the soil is alive, active, and productive by keeping it biologically active. It is a reality that plants can and do absorb huge amounts of big organic molecules, such as vitamins, chelated minerals, hormones, and other substances that are advantageous to them, refuting the claim that plants only ever take up nutrients in inorganic form. To investigate further, a field experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu from June to September 2023 to study the effect of combined application of graded levels of inorganic fertilizers along with organic NPK granules on growth, yield and economics of rice. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with seven treatments, comprised of different levels of inorganic fertilizers and organic NPK granules. Among the treatments evaluated, application of 70% NPK through inorganic fertilizers and 30% NPK through organic NPK granules registered higher growth, yield attributes and yield of rice. However the net income and benefit cost ratio was observed under application of 100% NPK through inorganic fertilizers which was comparable with application of 70% NPK through inorganic fertilizers and 30% NPK through organic granules. Therefore it can be concluded that combined application of 70% NPK through inorganic fertilizers and 30% NPK through organic granules is an environmental safe and economically viable nutrient management practice for getting higher yield and income from rice and it can be recommended to the rice growers.