RESPONSE OF SELECTED RICE CULTIVARS TO NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY

Majority of rice farmers cannot afford fertilizers to replace nutrients removed from the soils through harvested crops and leaching. It is a global challenge of sustainable rice cultivation to find or develop rice varieties that can grow even with limited nutrients while at the same time maintaining or improving grain yields. This study tried to identify rice cultivars that can perform with half of the recommended agricultural dose of fertilizer in Bauchi, by determining the root and shoot mass and tiller numbers. The experimental materials comprised of Three rice cultivars Faro 55 (Nerica 1), Srilanka, and Faro 44 (Sippi) and Two treatments , 180kg/ha NPK i.e. the recommended agricultural dose of NPK for rice farming in Bauchi (control) and 90kg/ha NPK which is half dose. A split plot experimental design with three replications was used to generate data for this study. Data were collected on Tiller numbers and recorded weekly for each cultivar. Biomass of the shoot and root were also determined. All the cultivars showed resilience to NPK. The findings of this research suggest that NPK fertilizer input of on these cultivars could be reduced. This means that farmers could spend less money to buy fertilizer and as well reduce environmental impact due to excessive usage of the fertilizer