Distribution of Leaf Color and Nitrogen Nutrition Diagnosis in Rice Plant

Greenness and nitrogen content of each leaf on main stem of different japonica and indica ricevarieties under different nitrogen levels were investigated. Results showed that the fourth leaf from the top ex-hibited active changes with the change of plant nitrogen status. When the plant nitrogen content was low, itscolor and nitrogen content were obviously lower than those of the three top leaves. With the increase of plantnitrogen content, the color and nitrogen content of the fourth leaf increased quickly, and the differences ofcolor and nitrogen content between the fourth leaf and the three top leaves decreased. So, the fourth leaf wasan ideal indication of plant nutrition status. In addition, color difference between the fourth and the third leaffrom the top was highly related to the plant nitrogen content regardless of the variety and development stage.Therefore, color difference between the fourth and the third leaf could be widely used for diagnosis of plantnutrition. Results also indicated that the minimized color difference between the fourth and the third leaf at the criticaleffective tillering, the emergence of the second leaf from the top, and the heading was the symbol of high yield. Plantnitrogen content of 27 g kg-1 DW for japonica rice and 25 g kg-1 DW for indica were the critical nitrogen concentrations.