Nitrogen Efficiency is Increased through Banded Fluid Fertilizer in Rice Production

A combination of fluid fertilizer and early floodwater establishment could reduce fertilizer and application inputs or increase rice yields by maximizing N efficiency. A fluid fertilizer applicator was attached to a rice drill so 100 or 70% of the 150 lb of N fertilizer per acre was applied as fluid fertilizer while drill-seeding rice. The N uptake and rice yields of subsurface, banded fluid fertilizer treatments were compared with those of broadcast dry granular urea applied in 1, 2, or 3 applications. Floodwater irrigations were established at the 4- or 6-leaf developmental stage. The field plot research was conducted on clay soil in 2003 and clay and silt loam in 2004. Fluid fertilizer applied during planting, relative to broadcast dry granular urea, increased N uptake under both flooding regimes in 2003 and from both soil types in 2004, and also increased yield from both soil types in 2004, and conventional flood timing in 2003. Rice grain yields were as great as from split applications, suggesting the single application of subsurface banded fertilizer at planting can help reduce or eliminate subsequent N applications.