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Paddy boot/panicle-stage spray and nutrition

The booting to panicle-initiation window in paddy - roughly 45-60 days after transplanting - is the most important single management interval in the crop cycle. Nutrient demand for grain differentiation and filling peaks at this stage, and several major diseases (rice blast, sheath blight, false smut, BLB, bacterial panicle blight) and pests (stem borer, panicle mite, BPH) also strike here.

Principle

The objective is to support spikelet differentiation, panicle exsertion and grain filling while preventing diseases and pests that would otherwise blank panicles or reduce grain weight. Treatment timing tracks crop stage, not the calendar, because variety duration and weather shift the panicle window.

Implementation

Adoption context

The window builds on the earlier tillering-stage spray and nutrition (Paddy Tillering Spray 25 50 Dat). It is the principal point at which farmers must integrate fungicide, insecticide and fertiliser decisions, and at which input choices most strongly determine final yield and milling outcome.

Limitations

Late nitrogen, dense planting and broad-spectrum pyrethroid sprays at this stage all flare BPH and BLB. Calendar-based spraying without scouting wastes inputs and accelerates resistance evolution in target pests and pathogens.

See also: Paddy Panicle Stage Fertilization, Paddy Tillering Spray 25 50 Dat, Paddy Blast Disease, Sheath Blight Paddy, False Smut Paddy, Bacterial Leaf Blight Paddy, Yellow Stem Borer Paddy, Brown Planthopper Paddy.

References

  1. Potassium (K). IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank.
  2. Nutrient Management Paddy. TNAU Agritech Portal.