Study on residue management options in combine harvested rice field in relation to yield and economic benefits of succeeding rice crop

Paddy straw is a good source of plant nutrients. _In-situ incorporation of paddy straw affects the growth and development of succeeding rice crop by immobilization of soil available nutrients. To overcome this, paddy straw incorporated with additives and its effect on rice growth and development was studied.

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam during October 2014 to February 2015, to study the residue management options in combine harvested rice and its effect on yield and economic benefits of rice crop. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design and replicated thrice. The treatments comprised rice residue without and with additives (25 kg additional N ha^-1 as basal, bio-mineralizer (2 kg t^-1 rice residue), cow dung slurry (5%). The additives applied individually, combination of two and combination of all additives.

Different rice residue management practices exerted significant influence on succeeding rice crop. Increased number of productive tillers (409), number of grains per panicle (162), panicle length (23.8 cm), number of filled grains per panicle (132) and spikelet filled percentage (87) was recorded by T8, where straw incorporated with application of 25 kg additional N ha^-1 as basal + biomineralizer (2 kg t^-1 of rice residue) + cow dung slurry (5%). The same treatment recorded highest grain yield of 7395 kg ha^-1 and straw yield of 8440 kg ha^-1 and it reflected as maximum value of ` 1, 13, 646 ha^-1, 69, 079 ha^-1 and 2.55 of gross return, net return and B: C ratio, respectively.