S. Sheik Shalik and G. Sivakumar
Abstract
Rice serves as the primary staple food in Asia. Indiscriminate and unbalanced use of chemical fertilizers not only exhausts the inherent nutrient levels in the soil but also leads to significant environmental harm, including the emission of greenhouse gases, acidification, and eutrophication. This poses a substantial threat to the sustainability of rice cultivation. Employing a combined approach of organic manures alongside chemical fertilizers emerges as a preferable solution to mitigate the adverse impacts linked with the exclusive use of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, acknowledging the complementary role of organic supplements to chemical fertilizers is crucial for maintaining soil health and ensuring the optimal yield potential in rice production. Therefore, field experiment was conducted at Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar during the cropping year of 2022, to find out the effect of utilization of bone sludge, by-product of ossein industry as manure with other organic manures viz., bone sludge compost, pressmud compost, poultry manure compost, goat manure compost and farmyard manure on the growth and yield of rice. The results of the experiment revealed that among the different treatments tested, application of bone sludge compost @ 5 t/ha + Pressmud compost @ 5 t/ha along with balance N and K through fertilizers (T4) excelled all treatments and gave significantly higher grain yield of 170 kg/ha when compared to other treatments. Considering the results of the present investigation, it can be concluded that application of bone sludge compost @ 5 t/ha + Pressmud compost @ 5 t/ha along with balance N and K through fertilizers registered highest values in growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of rice.