A novel approach to estimate nitrogen content of paddy

Nitrogen (N) is an essential element in photosynthesis which makes it critically important that cultivations are provided with sufficient amounts of N to gain a fertile yield. Majority of this requirement is fulfilled through N based fertilizer. Paddy farmers in Sri Lanka rely on information given by Agricultural Instructors to decide fertilizer requirement for their paddy fields. However, due to insufficient number of officials, currently they are in a dire situation of not being able to get timely information. As a result farmers have opted to use their previous experience in applying fertilizer. This has resulted in either over application or under application of N fertilizer, which causes significant impacts both to the farmer as well as the environment. While over application of N fertilizer lead to critical issues for bio-diversity, contamination of water, contamination of soil and health issues under application of fertilizer will result in a reduced harvest to the farmer. Therefore, the objective of this work in progress research is to suggest a novel approach to estimate N content of paddy in Sri Lanka.