Nitrogen Management with Split Application of Urea for Direct-Seeding Rice in Wet Paddy

Direct-seeding has major advantages such as labor and cost saving by eliminating preparation of seed bed and transplanting. But, it required increased input of fertilizers and pesticides because of the extended paddy period. Direct seeding in wet paddy (DSWP) gives faster growth and more uniform seedling emergence than direct-seeding in dry paddy. This research had an objective to develop an efficient N management practices for DSWP with split application of N fertilizer. A paddy field experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of starter N and N-topdressing which was delayed N application until 5-leaf stage, with comparison to transplanting (TP). Total amount of N application were two levels; 110kg and 77kg/ha. The N applications were split four times during rice growth stages; starter, topdressing at 5-leaf stage, top dressing at tillering stage, and topdressing at panicle initiation stage. DSWP had more tillers/$m^2$ than TP, but with the delayed heading. The DSWP plots which received N-topdressing at 5-leaf stage without starter N had higher leaf area index (LAI) and leaf greenness than the TP plot. Also, these DSWP plots had high leaf-N concentration at the heading stage, as calculated from leaf chlorophyll meter readings. Rice yield in DSWP with N-topdressing at 5-leaf stage was significantly higher than that in TP and in DSWP with starter N. Energy and N use efficiency were improved in DSWP with N-topdressing at 5-leaf stage. But, there were no significant differences in grain yield between the two levels of total amounts of N applications, 77kg and 110kg/ha. We concluded that starter N could not be used effectively by rice seedlings, but topdressing N at 5-leaf stage was an efficient N management for rice growth and yield in DSWP system.