Effect of Rice Cultivation Practices and Nitrogen Management strategies on Growth and Yield Attributes in Rice under Rice-cowpea Cropping System

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2022-23 and 2023-24 at College of Agriculture V.C, Farm, Mandya, India. The experiment consisted of three rice cultivation practices as vertical factors and five nitrogen management strategies as horizontal factors were laid out in strip plot design with three replications. Results revealed that among rice cultivation practices transplanted rice led to higher number of green leaves hill-1(76.05), leaf area index (4.25), SPAD (Soil Plant Analysis Development) value (40.68), panicle length (19.96 cm), lower number of chaffy grains panicle-1 (19.29) and test weight (23.78g). However, among nitrogen management strategies, application of 100% RDN + foliar spray of 0.4% nano urea at tillering and PI stage were found significantly higher number of green leaves hill-1 (87.34), leaf area index (4.80), SPAD value (44.70), panicle length (20.73 cm), lower number of chaffy grains panicle-1(15.28) and test weight (24.35 g). Among interactions, transplanted rice with application of 100% RDN + foliar spray of 0.4% nano urea at tillering and PI stage were found significantly superior for number of green leaves hill-1 (91.56), leaf area index (5.04), SPAD value (47.61), panicle length (21.82 cm) and lower number of chaffy grains panicle-1 (15.06). Transplanted rice combined with 100% RDN and foliar application of 0.4% nano urea at tillering and PI stages demonstrated superior growth and yield attributes, indicating its effectiveness in enhancing productivity.