Study on effect of nutrient management on growth, yield and profitability of transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.) in south-eastern Rajasthan

A field experiment was carried out during kharif season of 2024 at Agricultural Research Station, Kota to assess the effects of nutrient management treatments on the growth, productivity and economic returns on transplanted rice. The experiment comprised of eight nutrient management treatments viz., 100% RDF (NPK @ 120: 60: 40 kg/ha), RDF+FYM @ 5.0 t/ha, 125% RDF, 125% RDF+FYM @ 5.0 t/ha, RDF+soil application of Zn @ 5.25 kg/ha, RDF+foliar application of ZnSO4 @ 0.5%, RDF+foliar application of “Sampoorna KAU Multimax” @ 1.0% and RDF+foliar application of NPK 19:19:19 @ 0.5%. The treatments were tested in a RBD with three replications. Results revealed that maximum improvements in plant growth parameters viz., plant height, number of tillers, chlorophyll content, DMA and CGR at various growth stages were recorded with 125% RDF+FYM @ 5 t/ha. The application of 125% RDF+FYM significantly improved yield attributes viz., number of panicles/m2, panicle length, number of filled grains/panicle, panicle weight and test weight over 100% RDF alone. The highest grain, straw and biological yield were observed with the application of 125% RDF+FYM. The economic analysis indicated that the application of 125% RDF+FYM fetched maximum net return (₹135844/ha). The highest B:C ratio was observed with 125% RDF (2.91), closely followed by 125% RDF+FYM, RDF+FYM, RDF+foliar NPK, RDF+soil Zn, RDF+foliar zinc and RDF+foliar sampoorna.