In pregerminated rice system, initial water drainage promotes nutrient losses, depending on fertilizer management, leading to environmental problems. During the 2000/01 and 2003/04 growing seasons experiments were conducted at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria aiming to evaluate the effect of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer application methods on nutrient losses and pregerminated rice grain yield. The treatments were seven phosphorus and potassium fertilization methods combining application time and incorporated or not incorporated. Phosphorus and nitrogen concentration measured at initial water drainage were not affected by time or method of fertilizer application. The average of phosphorus and nitrogen were 0.07 and 0.81 mg L-1 respectively. However, less potassium runoff was verified in the treatments where the fertilizer was applied 10 and 30 days after sowing as well as on the check treatment. The treatments tested did not affect the rice agronomic traits. Rice yield was not affected by the phosphorus and potassium fertilization timing and method of application, but when the permanent flooding is not kept on the phosphorus and potassium application need to be done after the initial drainage to reduce potassium losses.
fertilizer; initial drainage; Oryza sativa L.; nutrients loss; lowland
