Poor early growth and uneven crop establishment are reported as the major bottlenecks in wide-scale adoption and optimal yield realization of dry direct-seeded rice (DSR). Seed priming can potentially help overcome these problems in DSR. Therefore, laboratory and field studies were conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India, during kharif/wet-season 2018 and 2019 to evaluate the effect of different priming techniques on germination, establishment, growth, and grain yield of rice under DSR conditions. The following priming treatments were evaluated: dry non-primed seed (control), hydropriming with distilled water, halopriming with 2.0% potassium nitrate, hormopriming with 50 ppm gibberellic acid (GA₃), and osmopriming with polyethylene glycol (PEG)(−0.6 MPa), each with 12 and 24 h priming duration. In 2019, priming treatments were tested under two DSR establishment methods—conventional DSR (sowing in dry soil followed by irrigation) and soil mulch DSR (locally known as vattar DSR) (sowing in moist soil after pre-sowing irrigation), whereas in 2018, priming treatments were evaluated under conventional DSR only. In both years, halopriming and hormopriming resulted in a 7–11% increase in rice yields compared to non-primed dry seed (control). Osmopriming resulted in a 4% yield increase compared to control in 2018 but not in 2019. The higher yields in halopriming and hormopriming were attributed to higher and rapid germination/crop emergence, better root growth, and improvement in yield attributes. Priming effect on crop emergence, growth, and yield did not differ by DSR establishment methods and duration of priming. Conventional DSR and soil mulch DSR did not differ in grain yield, whereas they differed in crop emergence, growth, and yield attributes. These results suggest that halopriming with 2.0% potassium nitrate and hormopriming with 50 ppm GA₃ has good potential to improve crop establishment and yield of rice in both conventional and soil mulch DSR systems.

Lower input (water, labour and energy) demand of direct-seeded rice (DSR), compared to conventional puddled transplanted rice (PTR), is the key driver for expanding the DSR area in many countries of Asia. The success of DSR, however, lies in effective management of weeds. For sustainable weed management, DSR systems need management interventions other than herbicides. Identification and introduction of weed competitive rice cultivars offers one of the potential and safe approaches to manage weeds in DSR. This article reviews the research on role of weed-competitive rice cultivars in managing weed infestation in DSR. It is reported that higher early vigour on account of rapid early growth, leaf area and biomass accumulation; plant height, root and shoot competition; crop duration and allelopathy etc. are the key traits associated with weed competitiveness. We aim to provide a logical perspective of exploring and exploiting the competitiveness of rice cultivars to strongly compete for resources with the associated weed flora to overcome stress, which is essential to realize potential yields in DSR system.

In current study, dry–matter accumulation (DMA), pre– and post–anthesis nitrogen (N) accumulation, N translocation (NT) and dry–matter partitioning by sunflower seeds was investigated under three sowing dates (January 20, February 10 & March 2), two intra–row spacings (30 & 24 cm) and four nitrogen doses (0, 45, 60 & 75 kg ha^–1) in two alluvial soils. Early sowing resulted in higher DMA and NT; leading to higher nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) that could be associated with higher pre–anthesis N accumulation. The closer intra–row spacing resulted in higher DMA by all plant parts except seed. Each graded N dose improved DMA, but improvement in dry–matter partitioning to seed was significant up to 60 and 75 kg N ha^–1 during 2014 and 2015, respectively owing to higher NT under respective treatments. NUE was highest at 60 kg N ha^–1 during both years.

Nitrogen fertilizers have a significant impact on the growth of rice. The overuse and inappropriate application of nitrogen fertilizers have resulted in environmental pollution, in addition to subjecting both humans and livestock to negative health hazards. Finding a viable substitute for traditional nitrogen fertilizers is crucial and essential to help improve crop yield and minimize environmental damage. Nano-nitrogen fertilizers offer a possible alternative to traditional fertilizers due to a slow/controlled release of nitrogen. The present work aimed to study the effect of a slow-release urea nanofertilizer on soil ammonical (NH₄-N) and nitrate-N (NO₃-N) content, culturable soil microflora, and soil enzyme activities in three different soil samples procured from Ludhiana and Patiala districts through a soil column study. Seven treatments, including 0, 50 (75 kg/ha N), 75 (112.5 kg/ha N), and 100% (150 kg/ha N) of the recommended dose (RD) of conventional urea and nano-urea fertilizer were applied. The leachate samples collected from nano-urea treatment exhibited NH₄-N for the first two weeks, followed by NO₃-N appearance. The higher NH₄-N and NO₃-N contents in the leachate were recorded for light-textured soil as compared to medium- and heavy-textured soil samples. The soil microbial counts and enzyme activities were recorded to be maximum in light-textured soils. Therefore, this slow-release formulation could be more useful for light-textured soils to decrease applied N-fertilizer losses, as well as for improving the soil microbial viable cell counts and soil enzyme activities. The effect of urea nanofertilizer on the growth and yield of direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) was also evaluated under field conditions. Both studies were performed independently. Numerically, the highest shoot height, fresh and dry shoot weight, and significantly maximum total chlorophyll, carotenoid, and anthocyanins were recorded in the T2 (100% RDF through nano-urea) treatment. The yield-attributing traits, including the number of filled grains and thousand-grain weight, were also recorded to have increased in T2 treatment. A numerical increase in NPK for plant and grain of rice at 100% RDN through nano-urea was recorded. The soil application of the product exhibited no negative effect on the soil microbial viable cell count on different doses of nano-urea fertilizer. The soil nitrogen fixer viable counts were rather improved in nano-urea treatments. The results reflect that nano-urea fertilizer could be considered as a possible alternative to conventional fertilizer.