Effect of fertilizer combination on yield of an upland rice variety

Payonga et al. (BU) conducted a study in Buang, Tabaco City, Albay [Philippines] from April to December 2005 to evaluate the yield and other agronomic characteristics of upland rice, which was intercropped with peanut, using different organic and inorganic fertilizer combination. A total of seven treatments were used: T0(no fertilizer); T1(chicken manure); T2(inorganic fertilizer); T3(Bio-N); T4(75% inorganic + 25% Bio-N); T5(50% inorganic + 50% Bio-N); T6(25% inorganic + 75% organic). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Results revealed that the different combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers had no significant effect on the different agronomic characteristics of 'dinorado' rice. These agronomic characteristics included plant height, leaf area index, tiller number, and productive tiller. Highest grain yield was obtained in T1 at 2,147.41 kg/ha, followed by T5 with 1,889.97 kg/ha. T6 had the lowest at 1,031.82 kg/ha. However, analysis of variance indicated no significant difference among the treatments. Thus, the different combination of organic and inorganic fertilizer had no significant effect on yield. In terms of profitability, T1 had the highest ROI of 53.38% or an income of P29,589.10/ha. The use of chicken manure was more economical than Bio-N at only 20/bag. It also contained higher nitrogen (3.5%) compared with Bio-N. The researchers recommend the use of Treatments 1 and 5. The lower cost of chicken manure makes it affordable for upland farmers. However, although plants under Treatment 5 were observed to have better agronomic characteristics and yield, these also gave lower ROI of 25.36%. Further study should be conducted on the long-term effect of organic and inorganic fertilizer combinations on the yield of upland rice.