Open Access

ARTICLE

Effects of Different Potassium (K) Fertilizer Rates on Yield Formation and Lodging of Rice

Tantan Zhang^1,2,#, Xiaoping He^3,#, Binglin Chen^1,#, Longxin He^1,2, Xiangru Tang^1,2,*

1 State Key Laboratory for conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China
2 Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Crop Cultivation in South China, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China
3 Guangdong Tianhe Agricultural Materials Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, 510642, China

* Corresponding Author: Xiangru Tang. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to the work

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: High-Yield Rice Physiology & Genetics)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(3), 815-826. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2021.014168

Received 07 September 2020; Accepted 09 October 2020; Issue published 30 March 2021

Abstract

As one of the most important nutrients for plants, potassium (K) has substantial effects on growth and development of crops. Present study was conducted in three different sites in South China in late season in 2019 with the objective to study the effects of different applied amounts of K fertilizer on yield formation and lodging of rice. Four K fertilizer treatments, K₀: 0 kg potassium oxide (K₂O) ha⁻¹ (control); K₁: 64.20 kg K₂O ha⁻¹ ; K₂: 128.55 kg K₂O ha⁻¹ and K₃ 153.90 kg K₂O ha⁻¹ were applied in the field experiment. The results showed that K₂ and K₃ treatments significantly increased panicle number per unit area, grain number per panicle, seed-setting rate and the grain yield of rice compared with K₀ treatment. Higher net photosynthetic rates were recorded in K₂ and K₃ treatments than K₀ treatment at tillering stage, heading stage and maturity stage. K fertilizer treatments also increased the chlorophyll content and dry matter accumulation by 6.16–23.52% and 21.32–64.59% compared with K₀ treatment, respectively. Moreover, the total N and K accumulation in the aboveground tissues of rice significantly increased under K₂ and K₃ treatments compared with K₀ treatment. Furthermore, compared with K₀ treatment, K fertilizer treatments significantly enhanced the breaking-resistant strength by 40.94–144.24% and reduced the lodging index of rice by 13.14–36.72%.

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