INTERACTION EFFECT OF NPK FERTILIZER AND RICE HUSK BIOCHAR ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF PADDY RICE IN AHERO, KENYA

Anthony AC Mendy, Erick Cheruiyot and Samuel Mwonga

International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research, 2025, vol. 11, issue 4

Abstract: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the third most preferred cereal, after maize and wheat in Kenya. Continuous monocropping in Ahero paddy rice fields without fertilizer application and soil amendment reduces yield. This study determined the effects of combining NPK fertilizer and rice husk biochar on the growth and yield of paddy rice. The treatments were rice husk biochar B0, B5, B10, and B15 (t ha-1 ) and NPK (F0, F100, F200, and F300 (kg ha-1 ). The study was conducted between May 2024 and January 2025 over two seasons. Three-replications in split-plot Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used. Tiller number, above-ground biomass, plant height, 1000-grain weight, and yield were measured. ANOVA was performed using R software version 4.4.2, and Fisher's LSD employed to differentiate the mean at p<0.05. NPK and biochar combination increased rice tillering by 53%–85%. Above-ground biomass increased by 47.1%–130.6% over control. NPK at 200 kg ha-1 and biochar 15 t ha-1 increased 1000-grain weight from 11.6% to 12.1% and grain yield 69.2% over the control. However, biochar and NPK fertilizer above 200 kg ha-1 tends to lower grain yield and weight. The results imply that Ahero paddy rice production may be managed well with moderate NPK and biochar rates.

Keywords: Crop; Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/371468/files/ijaer_11__73.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ijaeri:371468

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.371468

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research from Malwa International Journals Publication
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().