Dependence of Yield Response of Rice to Nitrogen Level on Soil Testing

Crop yields depend on the limiting factor of crop growth; Liebig law of minimum. Identifying the kind and the necessary amount of the limiting factor is essential to increase crop yield. Although nitrogen is the most essential nutrient, N application does not always bring about yield increases when other elements are limiting in rice cultivation. Two experiments were compared to elucidate the effect of soil testing on rice yield response to N level. The one was an experiment about yield response of 3 rice cultivars to 7 levels of N application, which was conducted from 2003 to 2004 in 25 farmer's fields without ameliorating soil conditions by soil testing and the other was a demonstration experiment on N fertilizer recommendation equation by 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 times of N recommended level in 5 soil types from 30 fields after ameliorating soil conditions by soil testing. The N response patterns of the experiments conducted without soil testing showed a Mitscherlich pattern in some cultivars and soil types, but did not in the others. The N response patterns of the demonstration experiment showed a Mitscherlich pattern in all soil types. Because these results indicated that N was the minimum nutrient in the demonstration experiment by ameliorating soil conditions with soil testing, but not in the other experiment without soil testing, the supply of minimum nutrients by soil testing could increase the efficiency of N-fertilization.