What causes rice to stay green and mature late?
Rice is the staple food of nearly half the people in the world, but did you know that the sweet and delicious rice plant can also run into many problems during cultivation? One of them is staying green and maturing late. In plain terms, staying green and maturing late means that when the rice should be ripening, the leaves are still green. So what exactly causes rice to stay green and mature late? Let's take a look below.
1. Nitrogen fertilizer
Nitrogen fertilizer is a very good chemical fertilizer for promoting crop growth and increasing crop yield during the crop growing process. But many people, afraid that the rice yield will not be high, keep applying nitrogen fertilizer to increase the rice yield, resulting in excessive nitrogen fertilizer application. This is because many people think that the more nitrogen fertilizer used, the better the rice yield will be. In fact, this backfires, because excessive nitrogen fertilizer affects the growth and development of rice, prevents the rice from absorbing nutrients normally, and causes an imbalance of nutrients in the rice plant. In the later stage, when the rice should be maturing normally, it is still constantly absorbing nutrients, causing the phenomenon of staying green and maturing late. This not only fails to increase the yield, but also reduces it.
2. Light
Rice is a light-loving crop, and the daily light duration must be at least eight hours or more. This is because the rice's own organic nutrients come from its own photosynthesis, and light is a necessary condition for photosynthesis. If there is not enough light duration, the rice's photosynthesis will decline, and the nutrients and waste substances in the plant cannot be discharged in time. The rice retains too many nutrients, and the rice will keep absorbing and converting them, causing it to stay green and mature late. Moreover, if the rice is planted too densely, the rice leaves are too crowded, and the lower rice leaves press against and shade each other, unable to receive light; insufficient light leads to staying green and maturing late.
3. Water
As everyone knows, rice, as the name suggests, has a very high demand for water. After transplanting the seedlings, the water in the paddy field must be ensured, and the water must at least reach a person's ankle. The paddy field must be kept moist and watery at all times, so as to ensure the normal growth of the rice. If there is a lack of water, the seedlings will not be able to absorb nutrients normally. This causes the rice to mature later and the leaves to turn yellow too late. However, there should not be too much water either; too much will rot the rice.
4. Temperature
Rice also has strict temperature requirements. During the growth of the seedlings, the lowest temperature they can adapt to is 10°C, and the temperature for the best development is 30°C. If the temperature is below 12°C or above 40°C, the seedlings will stop growing and developing. Below 15°C is not conducive to the absorption of nutrients by the rice, which will lead to insufficient nutrients in the rice, preventing normal growth and development and causing the phenomenon of staying green and maturing late.
The above are several causes of rice staying green and maturing late. Rice is a crop that loves light, warmth and water, and these three are indispensable for rice. In fact, nitrogen fertilizer is of great help to crops, but applying too much will still have a great impact on crops. If you want to know how to prevent rice from staying green and maturing late, please keep following us.