Assessment of Balance Nutrition (N, P, K, Zn and B) and Green Manuring on Yield, Nutrient Uptake, Economics and Soil Fertility of Rainfed Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Drought Prone Areas of Odisha

A field experiment was carried out in participatory mode on farmers’ field at Bhoimunda village of Jharsuguda block under Jharsuguda district, Odisha during Kharif season of 2017, 2018 and 2019 to study the efficiency of nutrient management along with green manuring crop on productivity, profitability and soil fertility of rice under Western Central Table Land Zone of Odisha, India. The adopted village was selected by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jharsuguda, Odisha under National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four treatments replicated five times taking rice (cv. Sahabhagi dhan) as test crop. The treatments comprised of four viz. T1: Farmer’s practice (NPK @ 50:20:20 kg ha-1), T2: Recommended dose of fertilizer (NPK @ 60:30:30 kg ha-1), T3: 75% RDF + Green manuring of dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata) with seed rate of @ 25 kg ha-1 and T4: Soil Test Based NPKZnB @ 75:38:30:6.25:1.25 kg ha-1 + Green manuring. Results revealed that application of Soil Test Based NPKZnB @ 75:38:30:6.25:1.25 kg ha-1 along with green manuring producing dry biomass 5044 kg ha-1 (T4) recorded significantly higher growth and yield attributes, grain yield (4.04 t ha-1), straw yield (5.15 t ha-1), harvest index (43.92%) as well as nutrient uptake in grain and straw of the crop over farmers practice. The same treatment recorded significant improvement in soil pH, organic carbon, available macronutrients (N, P and K) and micronutrients (Zn and B) status of soil after harvest of the crop. The highest benefit: cost ratio (1.62) and returns (Rs. 28559 ha-1) were recorded with the same treatment (T4) over farmers practice. The present study showed that use of green manuring along with balance nutrition, is an important strategy to maintain and/or improve soil fertility for sustainable crop production in drought prone areas as well as remunerative rice production by the farmers in Odisha, India.