Abstract:
Rice husk ash (RHA) is a silica-rich byproduct generated from burning rice husks, as
a fuel for boilers. Many countries use RHA as a soil amendment in rice cultivation
due to its positive effect on nutrient uptake, reducing biotic and abiotic stresses, and
improving photosynthetic efficiency in rice plants. Presently, there are no any
applicators available for incorporating RHA into the rice soil in Sri Lanka. Therefore,
a Rice Mill Furnace Applicator (RMFA) was designed with major components such
as a hopper, metering mechanism, delivering mechanism, and frame. A riding-type
two-wheel tractor was used as the power source for the RMFA. A comparative
performance evaluation was conducted in Low Humic Gley (LHG) soils at the
research unit of the Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. In the
comparative evaluation, the treatments used were control, manual application of RHA
and RHA was applied to the rice fields using RMFA with three replicates. The tractor
was operated at a speed of 0.833 ms-1 by a skilled operator. The same conditions were
supplied to the research fields except RHA applying methods. Data indicated that the
RMFA achieved a field efficiency of 77.12% when compared to the manual
broadcasting efficiency of 49.97%. The RHA application time using RMFA was 11
minutes while the manual method was taken 25 minutes for the same application.
Significant differences were observed in rice plant growth height with RHA applying
RMFA compared to manual broadcasting and control. These comparative results
show applying of RHA from using RMFA was better than other methods. This
indicates incorporation of RHA into the soil is more effective using RMFA compared
to manual application in paddy cultivation. The longer time application of RHA in
this method with other usual fertilizers can increase more benefits.
