Abstract
To increase the fertilizer-N efficiency in lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation, new management practices are needed. Main cause of the present low efficiency is the low N recovery by plants, as a considerable part of the N applied is lost; deep placement techniques improve the recovery. A pneumatic injector, with which urea prills can be point-placed at a depth of 5–10 cm in paddy soils, was tested in 38 on-farm trials in 1989/90, mostly during the wet season. The experiments, located in Africa and Asia, focussed on differences in grain yield between conventional methods of broadcasting urea and injection by the pneumatic injector, at recommended N-rates. The study shows that the pneumatic injector is effective as a tool to improve the N fertilizer efficiency. The average yield increases per region, resulting from the use of the injector, ranged from about 250 to 1300 kg grain ha−1. The value of the yield increase would allow most farmers to recover the costs of the injector within one season, even if labour was hired to carry out the injections. The average labour requirement of the injector was 40 hours ha−1. In Indonesia, injection of prilled urea gave yields similar to those obtained with urea briquettes.
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Scholten, J.H.M. Increasing urea-N efficiency for transplanted lowland rice by pneumatic injection: Yield and economics at the farm level. Fertilizer Research 33, 107–114 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01051165
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01051165