Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Igatpuri-422 403, India.
Field experiments were conducted in transplanted rice crop from kharif 1996 to 1998. The research findings clearly revealed distinct superiority of fertilizer briquettes over conventional fertilizer (prilled urea) under the prevailing conditions. The yields of rice consistently increased when the crop was fertilized through briquettes (56 kg N/ha) as compared to the application of nitrogen through conventional fertilizer (100 kg N/ha -Recommended dose of N). Placement of briquettes (in modified spacing 15–25 x 15–25 cm) at lower rates at an extra cost is certainly affordable to farmers since it offsets the additional cost through substantial increase in grain yields (25–30%) at lower levels of fertilizer.
