Responses of aerobically grown iron chlorosis tolerant and susceptible rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes to soil iron management in an Inceptisol

Iron deficiency is a serious nutritional disorder in aerobic rice, causing chlorosis, poor yields and reduced grain nutritional quality. The problem can be managed by complementing the use of Fe-efficient plant type with a suitable Fe management strategy. In the present paper, we report the effect of eight iron management practices to resolve the problem of iron (Fe) chlorosis through the use of an iron deficiency tolerant (IDTR) and iron deficiency susceptible (IDSR) rice genotype, i.e. Pusa 33 and ADT 39, respectively. Fe deficiency tolerance of these genotypes was related to the root release of PS which enabled a higher uptake of Fe in the IDTR than the IDSR under Fe deficiency. In general, IDTR performed better than the IDSR as evident from a significant increase in total iron, active iron, chlorophyll content and grain and straw yield. IDSR produced the highest grain and straw yield under slow iron release nano clay complex source. Grain Fe content of the IDTR and IDSR increased by 18.9 and 13.4%, respectively, under recommended dose of Fe. The results identified the most effective soil management strategies for the alleviating Fe deficiency chlorosis and improving Fe nutrition of both IDTR and IDSR genotypes.