Improvement of nitrogen management in rice paddy fields using chlorophyll meter (SPAD)

Optimum rate and timing application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer are most crucial in achieving high yield in irrigated lowland rice. In order to assess leaf N status, a semidwarf rice cultivar (Khazar) was grown with different N application treatments (0, 40, 80, and 120 kg N ha⁻¹ splited at transplanting, midtillering, and panicle initiation stages) in a sandy soil in Guilan Province, Iran, in 2003. The chlorophyll meter (SPAD 502) readings were recorded and leaf N concentrations were measured on the uppermost fully expanded leaf in rice plants at 10-day internals from 19 days after transplanting to grain maturity. Regression analysis showed that the SPAD readings predicted only 23% of changes in the leaf N concentration based on pooled data of leaf dry weight (N _dw) for all growth stages. However, adjusting the SPAD readings for specific leaf weight (SPAD/SLW) improved the estimation of N _dw, up to 88%. Specific leaf weight (SLW), SPAD readings, leaf area and weight as independent variables in a multiple regression analysis predicted 96% of the N _dw changes, while SPAD readings independently predicted about 80% of leaf N concentration changes on the basis of leaf area (N _a). It seems that chlorophyll meter provides a simple, rapid, and nondestructive method to estimate the leaf N concentration based on leaf area, and could be reliably exploited to predict the exact N fertilizer topdressing in rice.