The demand for a more sustainable management of agro-ecosystems in the context of climate change is increasing for meeting the needs of ever growing global population. The crop residue management is one of the important aspects under debate, since it represents the unneglectable quantity of organic matter which can be kept in or removed from the agro-ecosystem. Scientific curiosity in crop residue burning grew due to the emission of air pollutants, long range transport of air pollutants and deteriorating air quality and air, soil and environment. Therefore, it is important to look for sustainable solutions and technologies that can reduce the environmental footprint and add value by increasing the revenues of rice production systems. The field experiment was conducted during the kharif season of 2021-2022 at the Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla, ANGRAU, Lam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh to study the “Impact of rice residue management technologies and fertilizer levels on nutrient content and biomass production”. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with the rice residue management practices, assigned to the main plots and fertilizer levels to sub plots. The main plot comprised four different rice residue management practices viz., Straw burning (M1), Straw incorporation (M2), Straw incorporation + FYM @ 5.0 t ha-1 (M3) and Straw incorporation + DI (decomposing inoculum) + FYM @ 5 t ha-1 (M4). Three fertilizer levels were applied to rice viz., 75% RDF (S1), 100% RDF (S2) and 125% RDF (S3), as sub plot treatments. Macronutrients content and total biomass production at harvest was significantly higher in the straw incorporation was done along with decomposing inoculum (DI) and FYM @ 5t ha-1 treatment. While, significantly lower nutrient content and total biomass production were obtained whenstraw was burnt. Among the fertilizer levels, the application of 125% RDF was significantly superior with highest nutrient content and total biomass production and lowest was observed in 75% RDF.

Rice residue management, Straw burning, straw incorporation, Decomposing Inoculum, fertilizer levels, nutrient content and total biomass

From the results of the present experiment conducted on kharif on direct seeded rice, the following broad conclusions can be drawn that the macronutrients content and total biomass production at harvest were significantly improved when Straw Incorporation + DI + FYM @ 5t ha-1 treatment. While, significantly lower nutrient contents and total biomass production were observed in Straw burning. Among the fertilizer levels, the application of 125% RDF treatment registered the highest nutrient content and total biomass production and lowest was observed in 75% RDF.

G. Veena Madhuri, V. Sailaja, T. Venkata Sridhar, R. Lakshmipathy and A. Ashok Kumar (2022). Impact of Rice Residue Management Practices and Fertilizer Levels on Nutrient Content and Biomass Production of Kharif Rice. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(3): 1518-1523.