Effect of Precision Nitrogen Management on Growth and Yield of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Dimapur District of Nagaland, India

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a major staple crop globally, with productivity largely influenced by efficient nitrogen management, particularly in irrigated and rainfed lowland ecosystems. However, excessive and improper use of nitrogen fertilizers reduces use efficiency and causes environmental concerns, highlighting the need for precision nitrogen management strategies to sustain yield and resource use efficiency. The present investigation was conducted during kharif of 2022 and 2023 at ICAR Research Farm, Jharnapani, Nagaland Centre to study the effect of precision nitrogen management on growth and yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Dimapur district of Nagaland, India. The experiment was laid out in randomised block design (RBD) consisting of four treatments and replicated fifth time. The pooled results for two years revealed that precision nitrogen management had significant influence on growth, yield attributes and yield of rice. The treatment SPAD based nitrogen management recorded the highest growth, yield attributes and yield of rice. The highest plant height at 60 DAT (89.93 cm) and 90 DAT (111.04 cm), number of tillers sq.m-1 at 30 (255.50) and 60 (287.63) DAT, DMA plant-1 at 30 DAT (7.41), 60 DAT (15.68) and 90 DAT (28.22) DAT and LAI at 30 DAT (0.1015) and 60 DAT (0.1679) were obtained from SPAD based nitrogen application. Significantly highest yield attributes like number of panicle m-2 (256.97), panicle length (25.84 cm) and weight of the panicle (5.45 g) were recorded from SPAD based nitrogen management and grain yield (4830.83 kg ha-1) was also recorded from the SPAD based nitrogen management. The lowest growth, yield attributes and yield rice were recorded from control.