Introduction Proper potassium (K) nutrition is critical for maximizing rice grain yields. K is very mobile within the rice plant. Older leaves are scavenged for the K needed by younger leaves. Recent studies at the Missouri Rice Research Farm have shown that supplemental K can be supplied to the rice plant as late as Internode Elongation (IE) and still increase rice grain yields. In this same s...

Introduction Proper potassium (K) nutrition is critical for maximizing rice grain yields. K is very mobile within the rice plant. Older leaves are scavenged for the K needed by younger leaves. Recent studies at the Missouri Rice Research Farm have shown that supplemental K can be supplied to the rice plant as late as Internode Elongation (IE) and still increase rice grain yields. In this same s...

Slag-based silicate fertilizer has been widely used to improve soil silicon- availability and crop productivity. A consecutive early rice-late rice rotation experiment was conducted to test the impacts of steel slag on soil pH, silicon availability, rice growth and metals-immobilization in paddy soil. Our results show that application of slag at a rate above higher or equal to 1 600 mg plant-av...

To meet the World's food demand, there is a growing need for sustainable pest management practices. This study describes the results from complementary laboratory and field studies of a "banker plant system" for sustainable management of the rice brown planthopper (BPH) (Nilaparvata lugens Stål) - the economically most important rice pest in Asian rice growing areas. The banker plant system con...

Since 1991, the Rice Genome Research Program in Japan has carried out rice genomics, such as large-scale cDNA analysis, construction of a fine-scale restriction fragment length polymorphism map, and physical mapping of the rice genome with yeast artificial chromosome clones. These studies have made a great impact on research into grass genomes and made rice a model plant for other cereal crop r...

Plant-plant interference is the combined effect of allelopathy, resource competition, and many other factors. Separating allelopathy from resource competition is almost impossible in natural systems but it is important to evaluate the relative contribution of each of the two mechanisms on plant interference. Research on allelopathy in natural and cultivated plant communities has been hindered i...