Timing is everything when it comes to rice production, and in 2025, our timing for agronomic decisions was impacted. Persistent rains impacted many of our pre-flood nitrogen applications and the consequences showed up as combines entered some of those delayed fields. Through no fault of their own, farmers just couldn’t keep up. When rainfall impacts the timing of our pre-flood fertilizer application, it becomes vital to know how late we can go with those pre-flood applications.
As I write this article, nitrogen prices are increasing by the day, with urea prices $446 per ton. Many producers considered reducing their total season nitrogen rate in 2025, and I’m sure the same could be said for 2026. However, I would urge caution when cutting costs on nitrogen. If we are trying to cut costs, there are better places to look than reducing N. I’m hesitant to go below 150 lbs. N per acre on any soil, and on clay ground, higher rates are often required because the soil’s cation exchange capacity (CEC) ties up a portion of the applied nitrogen, limiting plant uptake.
Row rice nitrogen management has been a hot topic in Mississippi, and we have done a lot of research over the past couple years. Much debate revolved around increasing the nitrogen rate to greater than 180 lbs. N per acre in the top portion of the field to overcome some of the yield gaps compared to the bottom portion of a row rice system. This past year in 2025, we did three separate studies across three varieties (CLL18, DG263, and RT7521) looking at N management in row rice.
We had two different nitrogen rates (150 lbs. and 220 lbs. N per acre) across multiple different split applications: a single application, a 2:1 split, a 1:1:1 split, a 2:1:1 split, a 1:1:1:1 split, and a 2:1:1:1 split. We applied the first application prior to irrigation and then followed that with weekly applications of the remaining fertilizer.
The single application of 220 lbs. N in the top zone did not increase yield compared to the 150 lbs. N single application. However, once we started splitting those applications out, we saw marginal increases in yield with the 2:1, 2:1:1, and 1:1:1:1 with that increased rate across all three varieties. Even so, yields never exceeded 150 bushels per acre in the top zone. So, if you are considering increasing that rate in the top zone of row rice, it’s extremely important to split those applications.
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