Increasing Productivity and Water Use Efficiency in Australia’s Rice Industry through Nitrogen Management

This RIRDC research aims to provide information to the NSW rice industry on how to manage nitrogen fertilisation based on field and glasshouse experiment results, so that the maximum benefit of new varieties can be quickly obtained on farm.

Nitrogen management is one of the critical issues for sustainable and profitable rice production in NSW. This is not just because nitrogen status of the crop is a key determinant of yield potential, but also because high nitrogen status is associated with extreme cold sensitivity. Rice farmers pay a large yield and profit penalty for under fertilising their crops and can also increase their risk of cold damage by over fertilising.

As new varieties are developed and released, the nitrogen and low temperature response of these varieties need to be understood and described. Furthermore, nitrogen requirement of a crop is site specific and time dependent. Constant upgrading of fertiliser recommendations is therefore necessary, especially for a crop like rice because the properties of rice growing soils change enormously with time due to the intensity of cultivation.