A weather‐adaptive topdressing method to enhance rice yield in southwestern Japan

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants grown in southwestern Japan are subjected to large variations in air temperature and solar radiation during the rainy season which can affect their growth. Therefore, in this study, a novel nitrogen (N) application method for topdressing was proposed to increase grain yield under different weather conditions. Field experiments were conducted to determine the grain yield response to the soil and plant analyzer development (SPAD) readings and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) during the early reproductive stage in 2018 and 2019. As the rainy season ended in early July in 2018 but continued until late July in 2019, the daily mean solar radiation during the vegetative and early reproductive stages was 26% lower in 2019 than in 2018. Grain yield was 10% lower in 2019 than in 2018, mainly due to the lower number of spikelets. During the early reproductive stage, the SPAD readings and NDVI were higher in 2019 than in 2018, suggesting that the biomass and N concentration in 2019 were lower and higher than those in 2018, respectively. Statistical modeling examination of grain yield response to growth-related factors revealed that the N application rate during the reproductive stage and SPAD readings were significant predictors in 2018, whereas the N application rate and NDVI were significant predictors in 2019. Our findings suggest that SPAD readings and NDVI are key factors for determining N application rate during the reproductive stage under higher and lower solar radiation conditions during the vegetative and reproductive stages, respectively.