Apply the second dose of lime as top dressing one month after sowing/ transplanting in acid soils. The dosage is @ 100 kg/acre. Lime should be applied one week prior to the application of fertilizers.

The second dose of fertilizer has to apply in active tillering stage. This comes around 25-30 days after transplanting.

The third dose of fertilizer has to be applied at panicle initiation stage. This comes around 55-60 days after transplanting.

Factomphos is mainly recommended as a basal fertilizer. Apply urea and Muriate of Potash during second and third dose.

Under special conditions of drought and water-logging, apply nitrogen as foliar spray (10 gram/litre of water).

For pre-planting application, apply the fertilizers at the final ploughing.

In areas where availability of water is assured, temporarily draining the field one day prior to application and re-flooding after twelve hours is recommended for top dressing of fertilizer.

For increasing the efficiency of urea for top dressing, mix urea with six times its weight of slightly moist soil and apply to the field 24-28 hours after mixing.

Oil seed cakes such as punna and neem cakes can also be mixed with urea (1 part of oil cake + 5 parts of urea by weight) for increasing fertilizer use efficiency. This method is particularly useful for basal application of nitrogen.

When zinc deficiency is noticed, apply Zinc sulphate @ 8 kg/acre. Zinc sulphate and potash should not be applied on the same day.

Application of magnesium as basal dose in the form of Magnesium sulphate (16 per cent MgO) or Magnesite (40 per cent MgO) or Dolomite (10 per cent MgO) @ 8 kg MgO/acre  is effective in giving a significant increase in grain and straw yield of rice.

In iron toxic laterite soils of Kerala, application of 120 kg potash/ ha + lime 150 kg/ ha + silica 100 kg/ ha (as sodium silicate 250 kg/ ha or fine silica 100 kg/ha or rice husk ash 500 kg /ha) is recommended for higher yields.