Optimizing Rice Productivity in Coastal Saline Ecosystems of West Bengal through Foliar Application of Liquid Fertilizers

RAJIB KUNDU; TAKBIR ALI; KOUSHIK BRAHMACHARI; CHANDAN DE; SHUBHAMAY DEY; RATNESWAR PODDAR; GOLAM MOINUDDIN; ARUP SEN

doi:10.54894/JISCAR.44.1.2026.177888

Authors

RAJIB KUNDU Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
TAKBIR ALI Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
KOUSHIK BRAHMACHARI Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
CHANDAN DE Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
SHUBHAMAY DEY Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
RATNESWAR PODDAR Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
GOLAM MOINUDDIN Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India
ARUP SEN Department of Agricultural Chemistry & Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia -741 252, West Bengal, India

https://doi.org/10.54894/JISCAR.44.1.2026.177888

Keywords:

Coastal agro-ecosystems, Kharif rice, Liquid fertilizers, Nutrient Management, Potassium

Abstract

The imbalanced and excessive application of chemical fertilizers in saline coastal soils has led to declining factor productivity, yield stagnation and environmental degradation. This underscores the necessity of implementing sustainable nutrient management approaches to ensure productive and environmentally sound rice cultivation. Hence, a two-year field investigation was conducted during the 2023-2024 Kharif seasons at Rangabelia, Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal to assess the agronomic and economic feasibility of integrating liquid fertilizers with conventional soil fertilization in paddy production. The study was conducted using a randomized complete block design involving six treatments: 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDFNPK) through conventional fertilizers, graded levels of RDFNPK (75% and 50%) in combination with fortified nitrogen and phosphorus (NP, 7:21) and potassium thiosulphate (K₂S₂O₃) at two application rates, along with an unfertilized control, replicated four times. Among the treatments, foliar spray of fortified NP @ 6.5 L ha^-1 and K₂S₂O₃@ 5.0 L ha^-1 applied at 30, 45 and 65 days after transplanting (DAT) in combination with 75% soil-applied RDFNPK showed the most promising results through improving growth, yield and nutrient uptake as compared to the treatment receiving 100% RDFNPK through soil applied chemical fertilizers. This treatment achieved the maximum grain yield of 4.84 t ha^-1, representing a 137% increase over the unfertilized control along with the maximum straw yield of 6.22 t ha^-1, harvest index of 43.76%, improved head rice recovery (%) and greater economic return (B:C=1.62). The findings highlight that partial substitution of soil-applied fertilizers (25% reduction in RDFNPK) through liquid fertilizers can sustain productivity while enhancing economic returns and reducing environmental foot prints. In a nutshell, it can be opined that the combined application of liquid fertilizers with reduced RDFNPK represents a viable and eco-efficient crop nutrition approach for sustainable rice cultivation in vulnerable coastal agro-ecosystems.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Adak, S., Datta, S., Bhattacharya, S., Ghose, T.K., and Lahiri Majumder, A. (2020). Diversity analysis of selected rice landraces from West Bengal and their linked molecular markers for salinity tolerance. Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants 26(4): 669-682.

Ali, T., De, C., Maity, P., Brahmachari, K., Kundu, R., and Sarkar, S. (2025). Performance of post-emergence herbicides in rice-lentil cropping sequence under coastal saline zone of West Bengal. Journal of the Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research 43(2): 97-109.

Alshaal, T., and El-Ramady, H. (2017). Foliar application: From plant nutrition to biofortification. Environment, Biodiversity and Soil Security 1: 71- 83.

Asha, S.G., Kumar, N., Ramesh, T., and Prasad, B. (2025). Evaluating the efficacy of nano -NPK liquid fertilizer on growth, yield and quality of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Plant Science Today 12 (sp1): 1-10.

Banerjee, H., Samanta, S., Sarkar, S., Garai, S., Pal, S., and Brahmachari, K. (2018). Growth, productivity and nutrient uptake of different rice cultivars under coastal eco-system of West Bengal. Journal of the Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research 36(2): 115 -121.

Bhattacharyya, R., Ghosh, B.N., Mishra, P.K., Mandal, B., Rao, C.S., Sarkar, D., Das, K., Anil, K.S., Lalitha, M., Hati, K.M., and Franzluebbers, A.J. (2015). Soil degradation in India: Challenges and potential solutions. Sustainability 7(4): 3528 - 3570.

Bindraban, P.S., Dimkpa, C., Nagarajan, L., Roy, A., and Rabbinge, R. (2015). Revisiting fertilisers and fertilisation strategies for improved nutrient uptake by plants. Biology and Fertility of Soils 51(8): 897 - 911.

Dar, M.H., Chakravorty, R., Waza, S.A., Sharma, M., Zaidi, N.W., Singh, A.N., Singh, U.S. and Ismail, A.M. (2017). Transforming rice cultivation in flood prone coastal Odisha to ensure food and economic security. Food Science 9: 711-722.

Didawat, R.K., Sharma, V.K., Nath, D.J., Kumar, S., Dey, A., Kumar, P., Shankar, K., Chopra, I., Shivay, Y.S., and Prasad, S. (2024). Impact of long-term integrated nutrient management on productivity, profitability, soil microbial activity and nutrient content of rice (Oryza sativa) in Assam. The Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 94(11): 1240 -1245.

Directorate of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal (2023). Area, yield and production of major field crops. In Evaluation Wing, Directorate of Agriculture; Government of West Bengal : Kolkata, India.

Donald, C.M. (1962). In search of yield. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Sciences 28: 171-178.

Gomez, K.A., and Gomez, A.A. (1984). Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research. John wiley & sons.

Joddar, P., Patra, P., Karki, S., Hoque, A., Ahmed, A., and Paramanik, B. (2025). Performance of liquid organic formulations in combination with vermicompost on yield, quality and economics of aromatic rice (Oryza sativa). Indian Journal of Agronomy 70(2): 137-142.

Khush, G.S., Paule, C.M. and Cruz, N.M. (1979). Rice grain quality evaluation and improvement at IRRI, Proceedings of the Workshop on Chemical aspect on rice grain quality, International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. pp 21-31.

Kumar, A., Mishra, J.S., Singh, R.K.P., and Singh, D.K. (2022). Changing pattern of rice production in Eastern India: An economic analysis. Indian Journal of Extension Education 58(2): 71-76.

Lin, Y., Feng, N.J., Zheng, D.F., Du, X.L., Zhou, H., Yue, N.N., Yang, X.X., and Feng, Y.N. (2025). Effects of liquid fertilizer and reduced application rate on rice growth, nutrient uptake, and rice yield during the tillering stage. BMC Plant Biology 26: 140.

Mahmoodi, B., Moballeghi, M., Eftekhari, A., and Neshaie-Mogadam, M. (2020). Effects of foliar application of liquid fertilizer on agronomical and physiological traits of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Acta Agrobotanica 73(3): 1-12.

Mandi, S.K., Sarkar, S., and Goswami, S.B. (2018). Evaluation of organically grown rice varieties for their seed yield and quality in the lower Indo-Gangetic Plains. Environment and Ecology 36(3): 817-822.

Niu, J., Liu, C., Huang, M., Liu, K., and Yan, D. (2021). Effects of foliar fertilization: A review of current status and future perspectives. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 21(1): 104 -118.

Patra, P.S., Saha, R., Ahmed, A.S., Kanjilal, B., Debnath, M.K., Paramanik, B., Hoque, A., Adhikary, P., Biswas, A., Dey, P., and Biswas, A. (2024). Enhancing aromatic rice production through agronomic and nutritional management for improved yield and quality. Scientific reports 14(1): 15555.

Rahaman, S.M., Bera, B.K., Pal, S., Nandi, A.K. and Haldar, S. (2023). Countering vulnerability and enhancing resilience: Coastal agriculture in West Bengal, India. Agricultural Economics Research Review 34(2): 179-191.

Ray, K., Mondal, S., Kabir, J., Sarkar, S., Roy, K., Brahmachari, K., Ghosh, A., Nanda, M. K., Misra, S., Ghorui, S., Goswami, R., and Moinuddin, M. (2023). Assessment of economic sustainability of cropping systems in the salt affected coastal zone of West Bengal, India. Sustainability 15: 8691.

Rodríguez Coca, L.I., García González, M.T., Gil Unday, Z., Jiménez Hernández, J., Rodríguez Jáuregui, M.M., and Fernández Cancio, Y. (2023). Effects of sodium salinity on rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation: A review. Sustainability 15(3): 1804.

Sarangi, S.K., Singh, S., Srivastava, A.K., Choudhary, M., Mandal, U.K., Lama, T.D., Mahanta, K.K., Kumar, V., Sharma, P.C., and Ismail, A.M. (2020). Crop and residue management improves productivity and profitability of rice-maize system in salt-affected rainfed lowlands of East India. Agronomy 10(12): 2019.

Sarwar, M., Saleem, M.F., Maqsood, H., Ullah, N., Khan, A., Waqas, M., Sattar, N., Tasneem, M., Xu, X., Zhangli, H., and Shuang, Y. (2022). Strengthening leaf physiological functioning and grain yield formation in heat-stressed wheat through potassium application. Frontiers in Plant Science 13: 1005773.

Shen, Y. (2025). Improving rice grain quality through integrated nutrient management. Rice Genomics and Genetics 16(1): 14-23.

Sreelekshmi, S. and Devi, V.S. (2025). Yield enhancement and nutrient uptake through soil amelioration and foliar nutrition in rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Vaikom kari soils. ORYZA-An International Journal of Rice 61(4): 318 - 325.

Stavi, I., Thevs, N., and Priori, S. (2021). Soil salinity and sodicity in drylands: A review of causes, effects, monitoring, and restoration measures. Frontiers in Environmental Science 9: 712831.

Sun, Z., Yang, R., Wang, J., Zhou, P., Gong, Y., Gao, F., and Wang, C. (2024). Effects of nutrient deficiency on crop yield and soil nutrients under winter wheat - summer maize rotation system in the North China Plain. Agronomy 14(11): 2690.

Zenda, T., Liu, S., Dong, A., and Duan, H. (2021). Revisiting sulphur - The once neglected nutrient: It’s roles in plant growth, metabolism, stress tolerance and crop production. Agriculture 11(7): 626.

Zhao, D., Gao, S., Zhang, X., Zhang, Z., Zheng, H., Rong, K., and Zhao, W. (2021). Impact of saline stress on the uptake of various macro and micronutrients and their associations with plant biomass and root traits in wheat. Plant, Soil & Environment 67(2): 61-70.