Smart nutrient management strategy for rice: Sustainable production potential and its physiological bases

Summary

Rice, a staple for a third of the global population, faces yield stagnation despite increased nitrogen fertiliser use. In China, smallholder farmers often overapply nitrogen, leading to low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and resource waste. To improve productivity and sustainability, an easy smart nutrient management strategy is needed. Soil testing (ST) in China initiative has limited effectiveness due to its labour-intensive nature. The Nutrient Expert® (NE) system, based on the 4R nutrient stewardship (right source, rate, time, and place), offers a simpler alternative using decision-making technology and questionnaires tailored to specific farms and local fertilisers. This research further validated the potential benefits of NE over farmers’ practice (FP) and ST in terms of productivity, profitability, sustainability, and NUE. Additionally, it understood the physiological basis of rice yield formation under different nutrient strategies and nitrogen inputs by quantifying the source-sink relationships and yield production efficiencies (radiation interception efficiency, conversion efficiency, and partitioning efficiency).