Leaf color chart: An innovative approach to manage nitrogen application and pest incidence in kharif rice

A frontline demonstration on rice var. MTU-1010 was conducted with an objective to demonstrate the effectiveness of Leaf Color Chart (LCC) based nitrogen application in rice at Faridpur village, Ratua-I, Malda, West Bengal from July to October, 2021. The demonstrated technology showed 12.76% taller plants compared to farmers’ practice i.e. blanket nitrogen application at harvest. The technology also provided 34% more leaves and 54.5% higher effective tiller than farmers’ practice. Yield was 21.32% higher and pest incidence was 84.23% lower in LCC based practice than farmers’ practice. This innovative approach also reduced the cost of cultivation up to 20.52% and increased gross return, net return and benefit-cost ratio by 20.29%, 73.45% and 122.1%, respectively over farmers’ practice. The extension gap was 10.14 q/ha and technology gap was 4.87 q/ha in demonstrated plot which reverses the trend of huge extension gaps by teaching farmers via various extension techniques like Training FLD etc and also confirms superior results in demonstrated plot. Considering the effect of nitrogen application through Leaf Color Chart management on rice productivity, it is clear that LCC offers valuable chances to enhance nitrogen use efficiency, rice yield, and farmers' profits by reducing cost of cultivation and pest attack.