Table 1. Available and total S content of some Indonesian soils and S concentration in the respective irrigation water (Hayarni, 1974).
Site Soil type
Muara, Bogor Latosol
Citayam, Bogor Latosol
Singamerta Serang Hydromorph
Cihea, Cianjur Grumosol
Secang, Magelang Regosol
Meguwohardjo, Regosol
Yogyakarta
Ngale. Ngawi Grumosol
Pacet, Bogor Andosol
Pusakanegara Alluvial
There is evidence that the application of a high ratio of P fertilizers induces S deficiency in rice.
Ismunadji et al. (1986) demonstrated that increased use of TSP on soils high in P decreased rice yield, especially when insufficient S was applied. This evidence suggests that balanced fertilization is important to obtain high yields.
Extension of S Deficiency
The importance of S to agriculture has been increasingly recognised. Intensive agriculture and the high yield target of rice production (SUPRA INSUS) is likely to induce S deficiency in lowland rice if S is not considered.
The available and total S contents of selected Indonesian soils, and the S concentration of the respective irrigation water are presented in Table 1 (Hayami 1974). The results indicate that seven out of the nine locations were low in available S and that available S is not always correlated with the total S in the soil.
Recent analyses of 192 samples of irrigation water from Java showed that more than 506,1Q contained less than 3 ppm S as shown in Table 2.
Chemical analyses of 254 rice plant samples collected from Java indicated that 316,10 were deficient, 45% marginal and only 25% were considered to be sufficient in S (Ismunadji et al. 1975). S deficiency occurs on a wide range of soils, ranging from the light sandy Regosols to heavy Grumsols.
Crop Response
Compared to other food crops, S nutrition of lowland rice has received the most attention. S response in lowland rice has been reported by many workers.
Soepardi et a!. (1985) reported that rice yields were almost doubled (8 t/ha) if 72 kg S/ha was applied.
S application can have a positive effect on yield, yield
Avail. S Total S S conc. in
mg/kg mg/kg irrigation
dry soil dry soil water (ppm)
10 132 1.3
11 135 1,4
14 20 4.0
27 44 2.6
11 81 6.2
38 56 6.2
14 48 1.7
163 140 20.2
143 149 19.4
components and grain quality. The effect of S on yield and yield components from a pot study is presented in Table 3 (Ismunadji 1982). S application increased grain yield, number of panicles per hill, number of grains per panicle, grain weight and reduced the percentage of empty grains.
The effect of S on lowland rice grown in pots in different soil orders is presented in Table 4 (Makarim et al. 1989).
S application not only affects yield but also protein quality, through its effect on the synthesis of cystine, cysteine and methionine (lsmunadji and Miyake 1978). Methionine is an essential amino acid and is often critical in the diet. Low methionine levels resulting from S deficiency may have serious implications for human nutrition and health.
Fertilizer Usage
Ammonium sulfate was introduced into the BIMAS rice fertilizer package in 1979 and is now the main source of S-containing fertilizer used by farmers.
Table 2. S content of irrigation water in Java, 1985.
S content No. of samples Percentage
(pp m) of total
< I 27 14.1
1 - 2 58 30.2
2 - 3 21 10.9
3 4 11 5.7
4 5 6 3.1
5-6 5 2.6
6 - 7 5 2.6
7 - 8 4 2.1
8 - 9 6 3.1
9 - 10 7 3.6
10 20 25 13.0
> 20 17 8.8
Total 192
Table 3. Effect of S application on yield and yield components of lowland rice (Ismunadji, 1982).
S applied Yield No. panicles No. grains lIJo empty Weight of
ppm (g/pot) per hill per panicle grains 1000 grains (g)
0 48 28.2 132 31.0 16.8
10 107 41.0 185 36.7 19.8
20 164 50.8 202 28.2 20.8
40 153 54.8 177 25.7 19.9
80 160 51.8 191 26.4 20.6
160 140 53.5 176 28.5 20.3
Table 4. Effect of Nand S application on yield of lowland rice grown on different soil orders.
----
... --~Rate of Unyur Secang Bandarjaya Subang
N S Inceptisol Entisol Ultisol Oxisol
kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/h
60 0 3222 3762 3682 4011
60 40 3991 4490 4297 4557
120 0 3444 4554 4543 4341
120 40 4213 6559 4283 4460
Table 5. Fertilizer consumption ('OOOt) in the food crop sector, 1969-1986.
Year Urea TSP
1979 I 147 275
1980 I 679 439
1981 I 992 637
1982 2 153 752
1983 2 117 739
1984 2531 927
1985 2553 1 015
1986 2613 1 131
- - - -....
Consumption in the food crop sector has increased from 23 000 t in 1979 to 470 000 t in 1985 (Table 5).
It is produced domestically, is readily available and cheap (Rp. l70/kg), since it is subsidised by the government. Ammonium sulfate has potential benefits over urea, because it contains both Nand S and there is less risk of N loss via volatilisation.
In S-deficient sites, ammonium sulfate promotes crop growth and produces higher yield.
Previous experiments have shown that various sources of S, such as potassium sulfate, ammonium suI fate, gypsum and elemental S are all equally effective in rice (Ismunadji et al. 1978; Blair et al.
1979). Recent field studies carried out at Singamerta, Java by Ismunadji and Makarim at BORIF (Lefroy et al. 1988) have confirmed this (see Lefroy these Proceedings).
References
B1air, G.l., Umar, A.P., Mamaril, C.P., Momuat, E.O. and Momuat, C.lS. 1979. Sulfur nutrition of rice. l. A survey of soils of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Agronomy Journal 71, 473-477.
KCl AS Total
23 1 145
9 54 2 181
20 99 2748
69 294 3268
170 359 3385
230 386 4074
297 456 4321
296 470 4510
Hayami, K. 1974. Occurrence of sulfur deficiency in Indonesia. J. Hokkaido Soil Science Plant Nutrition, 13-28.
Ismunadji, M. 1982. Effect of sulphur application on chemical composition and yield of lowland rice. Ph.D Thesis, Bogor Agricultural University. (In Indonesian).
Ismunadji, M., Makarim, A.K. and Purwoatmodjo, P. 1986.
Effect of sulphur and phosphate on nutrient status and growth of lowland rice grown on Secang Latosol. Bogor Research Institute for Food Crops, Seminar, 17-18 December 1986. (In Indonesian, English summary).
Ismunadji, M. and Miyake, M. 1978. Effect of sulphur on the amino acid content of brown rice. Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly 12, 180-182.
Ismunadji, M., Zulkarnaini, I. and Miyake, M. (1975) Sulphur deficiency in lowland rice in Java. Contributions Central Research Institute of Agriculture, Bogor 14, 1-17.
Kamprath, E.J., Nelson, W.L. and Fitts,
J.w.
1956. The effect of pH, sulphate and phosphate concentrations on the adsorption of sulphate by soils. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 20, 463-466.Lefroy, R., Blair, S. and Blair, G.J. 1988. Phosphorus and sulfur efficiency in tropical cropping systems. Final report ACIAR project 8328.
Leijder, R.A. and Aldjabri, M. 1972. Sulphur deficiency under conditions of wet rice cultivation, with specific reference to a Vertisol near Ngawi, East Java. Newsletter Soil Study Group Bogor 112, 21-29.
Makarim, A.K., Ismunadji, M. and Von Vexkull, H.R.
1989. Nutritional constraints on rice production on acid soils in Indonesia. International Symposium on rice production on acid soils of the tropics, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 26-30 June 1989.
Mamaril, c.P., Vmar, A.P., Manwan, 1. and Momuat, C.J.S. 1976. Sulfur response of lowland rice in South
Sulawesi, Indonesia. Contribution Central Research Institute of Agriculture, Bogor 22, 1-12.
Pearson, R.W., Abruna, F. and Vincente-Chandler, J. 1962.
Effect of lime and nitogen applications on downward movement of calcium and magnesium in two humid tropical soils from Puerto Rico. Soil Science 93, 77-82.
Soepardi, G., Ismunadji, M. and Partohardjono, S. 1985.
Toward balanced fertilization to-increase quality and yield of crops. Directorate General of Food Crops, Jakarta.
(In Indonesian).