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GROWTH AND NITROGEN NUTRITION OF RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) IN SOIL TREATED WITH N-SERVE AND A NITRIFICATION INHIBITING INSECTICIDE

ASMA LODHI, N.N. MALIK* AND F. AZAM

Abstract: A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of N-Serve (nitrification inhibitor) and Baythroid (an insecticide with strong inhibitory effect on nitrification in soil) on dry matter yield and N uptake of rice (Oryza sativa L). N-Serve was applied @ 1.1, 4.4 mg kg^-1 soil and Baythroid @ 1.6 and 6.4 mg kg^-1 soil, either alone or together with ¹⁵ N-labelled (NH₄ )₂ SO₄ @ 200 mg kg^-1 soil. Both N-Serve and Baythroid caused an increase in the dry matter yield of root and shoot portions, with significant decrease in the grain weight. There was no significant effect of either inhibitor on total dry matter yield and N uptake. Nitrogen yield and dry matter yield were significantly correlated in different treatments.
Different treatments exerted a similar effect on total N as observed for dry matter yield. Efficiency of N fertilizer uptake varied from 49 to 59% in different treatments. Different method gave relatively higher values for the fertilizer use efficiency as compared to isotopic method. Only 11-16% of applied N was recovered in soil after harvesting the plants and both the inhibitors caused a higher incorporation of applied N 80 soil organic matter. Upto 30-43% of applied N was lost from the soil-plant system with more losses from soil treated with N-Serve. Application of N fertilizer caused a significant increase in N uptake from native soil organic matter suggesting the occurrence of a positive added nitrogen interaction (ANI). N-Serve lead to a decrease in the ANI, while Baythroid had a significantly positive effect at the lower level of application.

Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan
Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.