A field experiment was conducted to investigate effects of application time and rate of biofertilizer alone and in combination with chemical NPK fertilizer on growth, yield and quality of rice. The biofertilizer used composted food waste as substrate and added with effective microorganism. The treatments included recommended NPK fertilizer(RF, 11-5.5-4.8kg~;10a-1 ), half recommended NPK fertilizer(HRF, 5.5-2.8-2.4kg~;10a-1 ), half recommended NPK fertilizer plus 250kg~;10a-1 biofertilizer(HRF+Bio 250) and 500kg~;10a-1 biofertilizer(HRF+Bio 500). The biofertilizer treatments were applied at 0, 5 and 10 days before transplanting(DBT). Grain yield of HRF+Bio 250 at 5 DBT(648.4kg~;10a-1 ) was statistically similar to the highest obtained in the RF(654.1kg~;10a-1 ). Tiller numbers at HRF plus biofertilizer treatments were already high during the maximum tillering stage, and were similar with that of the RF and higher than that of the HRF during heading stage. Likewise, ripening ratio at HRF plus biofertilizer treatments was similar with that of the RF and higher than that of the HRF. Furthermore, all the biofertilizer treatments improved protein content but reduced the amylose content and palatability compared to treatments with chemical NPK fertilizer alone. Thus, HRF+Bio 250 at 5 DBT can be used to save 50% chemical NPK fertilizer and at the same time obtain an improved rice grain yield and quality.

The effect of mixed treatments of wood vinegar and sulfonylurea-based herbicides on weed control, yield and yield components, and quality of rice was investigated. Two herbicides were tested namely: imazosulfuron-ethyl+thiobencarb[ethyl-1-(2-chloroimidazo[1,2-α ]pyridin-3-ylsulfonyl)-3-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl) urea+S-4-chlorobenzyl diethyl(thiocarbamate)], and bensulfuronmethyl+butachlor [methyl α -[(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-ylcarbamoyl)sulfamoyl]-o-toluate+N-butoxymethyl-2-chloro-2',6'-diethylacetanilide]. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications and 5 treatments. Treatments used were recommended(RH: 100%) and half-recommended(HRH: 50%) application rates of each herbicide. Half-recommended application rates were combined with 1 mL wood vinegar 500mL~;water-1 (500) and 1 mL wood vinegar 1000mL~;water-1 (1000) wood vinegar. Plots for no herbicide treatments were also prepared and used as control. Results showed that wood vinegar significantly increased efficacy of HRH in bensulfuron-methyl+butachlor while high efficacy was already obtained in HRH treatment of imazosulfuron-ethyl+thiobencarb. Wood vinegar did not improve the efficacy of imazosulfuron-ethyl+thiobencarb but improved rice yield. Significantly similar rice yields were obtained in the HRH+1000 WV and RH treatments of both herbicides. There were no significant variations in the yield components among the treatments; however, differences in yield can be attributed to the variations in the spikelet number and ripening ratio. Data on rice quality analysis did not show clear trend on the effects of the treatments on grain appearance and nutritional quality.