Effect of water deficit and nitrogen fertilizer on morphological traits and yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.) var.Tarom Hashemi

Effect of different water deficit treatments and nitrogen levels was studied on yield and yield components of rice (Oryza sativa L.) var. Tarom Hashemi at Neka region, Mazandaran province of Iran in 2009. The experiment was carried out as strip split plot based on a completely randomized block design with four replications. The main factor was water deficit treatments consisted of waterlogging (control); and water deficit at tillering, flowering and seed filling stages for 15 days, and the second factor included four nitrogen fertilizer levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg/ha) from urea source. Analysis of variance showed that the effect of water deficit treatments and nitrogen fertilizer levels was significant on yield, biological
yield, stem diameter and number of tillers. Increased levels of nitrogen fertilizer had an increasing effects on all the studied traits, except harvest index. Water withhold at tillering stage affected plant height, number of tillers, stem diameter, biological yield and yield, negatively. Waterlogging with 150 kg/ha nitrogen fertilizer application increased grain yield and was the most effective treatment. Despite water is the main limitation for rice production in many areas, the highest yield was obtained at waterlogging treatment.