*Corresponding Author: sujay.paul39@gmail.com 305 DOI: https://doi.org/10.52756/ijerr.2024.v46.024 Effect of Different Levels of Nitrogen and Silicon in Rice under Red and Laterite Soil Sujay Kumar Paul 1,2 *, Ganesh Chandra Malik 1 , Mahua Banerjee 1 and Sitabhra Majumder 2 1 Department of Agronomy, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Sriniketan, W.B-731236, India; 2 Department of Agronomy and Agroforestry, M. S. Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Odisha-761211, India E-mail/Orcid Id: SKP, sujay.paul39@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6197-4405; GCM, ganeshchandra.malik@visva-bharati.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000- 0002-1785-2360; MB, mahua.banerjee@visva-bharati.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3871-408X; SM, sitabhra.majumder@cutm.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3587-2818 Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important crop that covers a vast area under cultivation and is also substantially related to people's food security and livelihood across countries. Rice production in India has increased to 120 million tonnes in 2020-2021 from 53.6 million tonnes in 1980 (Malabadi et al., 2022). Rice, being an exhaustive feeder crop, judicious nutrient management plays a vital role in maintaining the fertility of the soil (Thind et al., 2012; Das et al., 2024; Mishra et al., 2024; Pal et al., 2024). Nitrogen (N), one of the primary and essential nutrients, is involved in the proper growth and development of plants. Nitrogen management is an important aspect that needs to be taken care of for better utilization and uptake. Following blanket application of nitrogen doses and indiscriminate application by farmers lead to losses and pollution. Site-specific applications and crop growth-specific nitrogen applications help us in this regard. The application of nitrogen at specific recommended crop growth stages and the use of a leaf colour chart (LCC) can help properly manage nitrogen applied to the field. LCC is a plastic strip of four shades of green, which decides the nitrogen requirement of the rice crop. It is monitored every 7–10 days, starting from 15 days after transplanting till initiation of flowering and the prescribed amount of fertilizer N is applied whenever the colour of rice leaves falls below the critical LCC score (Thind and Gupta, 2010; Sow and Ranjan, 2021). Farmers can use the LCC as a visual indicator of the rice crop nitrogen status of the crop. Then, they can easily manage the N fertilizer application. Silicon (Si) is a functional and agronomically essential nutrient (Savant et al., 1997), which helps crops sustain the system's growth and productivity in different ways. It Article History: Received: 19 th Jun., 2024 Accepted: 25 th Dec., 2024 Published: 30 th Dec., 2024 Abstract: A field experiment was conducted at Agriculture Farm, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal, during kharif season of 2021-22 and 2022-23 in order to assess the performance of rice under various levels of nitrogen and silicon in red and laterite soil of West Bengal. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three levels of nitrogen in main plots and five levels of silicon in sub plots. In the pooled data of both the years, among the main plots, treatment N3 with nitrogen applied @ 20 kg/ha as basal + LCC-4 at 20 kg N/ha had the highest plant height (141.24 cm), dry matter accumulation (1411.97 g/sq. m) at harvest, LAI at 60 DAT (4.88), number of tillers per sq. m at harvest (273.94), panicle length (29.04 cm), panicle number (263.82), number of filled grains (102.51), test weight (25.2 g), rice grain yield (6.17 t/ha), straw yield (8.25 t/ha), protein content (7.22%) and protein yield (446.78 kg/ha). Among the sub-plots, treatment S5 with SiO2 applied @ 400 kg/ha recorded the highest plant height (137.98 cm), dry matter accumulation (1337.48 g/sq. m) at harvest, LAI at 60 DAT (4.74), number of tillers per sq. m at harvest (272.91), panicle length (29.53 cm), panicle number (259.73), number of filled grains (105.37), test weight (25.3 g), rice grain yield (5.83 t/ha), straw yield (7.86 t/ha), protein content (7.65 %) and protein yield (445.81 kg/ha). Keywords: Agriculture, LCC, Nitrogen, Silicon How to cite this Article: Sujay Kumar Paul, Ganesh Chandra Malik, Mahua Banerjee and Sitabhra Majumder (2024). Effect of Different Levels of Nitrogen and Silicon in Rice under Red and Laterite Soil. International Journal of Experimental Research and Review, 46, 305-312. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52756/ijerr.2024.v46.024 Int. J. Exp. Res. Rev., Vol. 46: 305-312 (2024)