The Agronomic Performance of Rice Seeds Coated with N-Enriched Organomineral Fertilizer

Seed coating with silicate rock-basis organomineral fertilizer (OMF) was proposed as an appropriate method to improve the productivity and profitability of rice farming. This research aimed to evaluate the growth and yield components of rice grown from coated seeds with N-enriched OMF. The coated seeds of two rice varieties, i.e., Trisakti (T) and Nutri Zinc (NZ) were tested in separate experimental sets. A randomized block design was applied for each experiment with the treatment consisting of non-coated seed (NCS), coated seeds containing 4.5% N (CS-1), 7.8% N (CS-2), and 9.0% N (CS-3) in 3 blocks. The coating material of OMF was a mixture of 90% basaltic rock and 10% rock phosphate, enriched with N accordingly to the treatment; and the weight ratio of seed to OMF was about 1:16. The coated seeds were planted directly to the ground (without sowing and transplanting steps), and only NCS was fertilized with NPK (15:15:15) equivalent to 300 kg. ha-1. Results reveal that there was no significant difference in growth components (number of tillers and the weight of top-biomass) and quality of rice grains (weight of 1,000 grains) for the plants of coated and non-coated seeds. Enriching OMF with N up to 9% consistently improved the total yield of rice. Therefore, seed coating with OMF containing about 9% N was an appropriate method to optimize rice yield.