Effect of nano urea on the growth and yield of rice (Oryza sativa) under SRI in the Cauvery delta zone of Tamil Nadu

The intensive agriculture involves imbalanced application of nitrogenous fertilizers, and their low nutrient efficiency will ultimately have a negative impact on soil. In the new scenario of increasing environmental constraints may represent an opportunity for nano fertilizers. Among the recent technologies, nano fertilizers are the emerging innovation, which have the potential to offer sustainable solutions to enhance the efficient use of nutrients and the crop yield. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Experimental Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India during kharif 2021-22 to study the effect of nano urea on the growth and yield of rice under system of rice intensification. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with five replications. There were four treatments viz., T1–Farmer’spractice with RDF 120:40:40 (NPK kg/ha), T2–100% RDN+Nanourea (2 foliar sprays)+P+K, T3–75% RDN+Nanourea (2 foliar sprays)+P+K and T4–50% RDN+Nanourea (2 foliar sprays)+P+K. The experimental findings revealed that application of 75% RDN+Nanourea (2 foliar sprays)+P+K found to be most productive in terms of plant height (32.1, 65.7, 83.6 cm), leaf area index (5.10), dry matter production (3.2, 7.2, 13.2 t/ha) and number of productive tillers/m2 (17.6) resulting in higher grain yield (5485.2 kg/ha) and straw yield (7525.2 kg/ha). Nano fertilizers significantly improved the plant growth performance and imparted sustainability to crop production with comprising the crop yield.