Impact of biochar, FYM and NPK fertilizers integration on aerobic rice growth, yield and nutrient uptake under sandy loam soil

A field experiment was carried out during summer season of 2018 on sandy loam soil at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Navile, Shivamogga, Karnataka to study the effect of biochar, FYM and NPK fertilizers integration on growth and yield of aerobic rice. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with 16 treatment combinations comprising four levels coconut shell biochar (2, 4, 6 and 8 t/ha) and two levels of FYM (5 and 10 t/ha) which were applied alone and in combinations to soil. The recommended dose of fertilizer (100: 50: 50 kg/ha) was applied commonly to all the treatments except absolute control with three replications. The results showed that combination of 8 t coconut shell biochar/ha and 10 t FYM/ha with recommended dose of fertilizers significantly enhanced the plant height, number of tillers/hill, number of panicles/hill, number of grains/panicle and 1000-grain weight as compared to RDF alone and RDF+FYM 10 t/ha applied treatments, at all the growth stages. This reflected in significant marked effect on increased grain (6184 kg/ha) as well as straw (7724 kg/ha) yields and total uptake of macro-nutrients by aerobic rice crop in the 8 t coconut shell biochar and FYM 10 t/ha with RDF applied treatment.