Saiful Karim

Fertilizer Management Through Soil Test Value Interpretation in Rice: Soil Test Value Interpretation: an Approach for Sustainable Yield in Rice Saiful Karim

Bangladesh is a small country (147570 sq. km) with large population (about 160 million). Day by day rice yield faces stagnation due to many problems (imbalanced fertilization, nutrient mining, depletion of soil organic matter, scanty use of bio- and organic fertilizers and poor management practices). As rice is the staple food in Bangladesh, we considered soil test values to upgrade the rice yield by means of fertilizer. The fertilizer applied by soil test value interpretation (STVI) gave the consistent result ensuring high yield in rice beyond two other treatments. The highest number of total tillers/hill (13.20), effective tillers/hill (10.43), grains/panicle (77.08), total grains/panicle (87.32), grain yield (2.91 t/ha), biological yield (7.54 t/ha) and harvest index (38.57%) were recorded with the STVI fertilizer recommendation. Nizersail grown under STVI produced the highest number of effective tillers/hill (11.53), total grains/panicle (93.53), grain/yield (2.97 t/ha) and harvest index (40.43%). Though the varieties are indigenous, STVI makes possible to gain a sustainable yield. The educated professionals, scholars and students of agronomy can be helped by this book.