Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizers on Growthand Yield of Rice (Oryza Sativa) In White Nile State - Sudan

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for one season (2007) in “Wakara” Agricultural Scheme, South of Eldewem town, White Nile State. The experiment was designed to study the effect of four levels of nitrogen and three levels of phosphorus fertilizer on growth and yield of one rice variety (NERICA-4). Nitrogen fertilizer was split into two equal doses, one applied at tillering stage and the other at panicle initiation, while phosphorus fertilizer was applied at sowing. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design with three replications. Nitrogen treatments were 0, 60, 90 and 120 kg N/ha designated as N0, N1, N2 and N3 and phosphorus treatments were 0, 50 and 100 kg P2O5/ha designated as P0, P1 and P2 respectively. Attributes studied included: plant height (cm), number of tillers/ plant, number of panicles/plant, panicle length (cm), number of grains/panicle, number of unfilled grains/panicle, percentage of effective tillers, number of panicles/m2, thousand grain weight (g) and grain yield (ton/ha). The results showed that nitrogen application caused significant increase in plant height, number of tillers/plant, number of grains/panicle, thousand grain weight and number of unfilled grains/panicle. There were also increases in the other attribute due to nitrogen but the increase was not significant. Phosphorus application caused significant increase in number of grains/panicle. No significant interaction due to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer was observed in the characters measured except thousand grain weight.