Abstract

                                Field experiments were conducted in two different agro-climatic zones during kharif 2011 at Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai and Wetlands, TNAU farm, Coimbatore to study the effect of customized fertilizers on yield and soil properties of lowland rice ecosystem. Two formulations of customized fertilizers viz., N P K mixture (CF I) and N P K Zn mixture (CF II) have been developed based on the blanket recommendation (BR) of straight fertilizers being followed in Tamil Nadu. Three levels of CF I and CF II viz., 50%, 75% and 100% of RDF were compared with 100% RDF through straight fertilizers. The results revealed that application of 100% RDF in the form of CF II increased the productive tillers (21 nos.), panicle length (27.70 cm) and number of filled grains per panicle (203 nos.). Application of 100% RDF in the form of CF II recorded the highest grain yield of 6878 kg ha-1 followed by the application of 100 % RDF in the form of CF I + 25 kg Zn SO4 ha-1 ( 6622 kg ha-1). Per cent increase in yield of 22.2 per cent over the application of straight fertilizers was recorded due to the application of 100 % RDF in the form of CF II.

Key words : Customized fertilizers, balanced fertilization, rice yield, soil properties