A two year field study conducted at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India showed that for direct seeded rice (drilled in moist bed) blending of urea with nitrification inhibitor N-Serve was the most advantageous; it gave significantly higher grain and straw yield nitrogen uptake by rice than urea supergranules (USG), urea briquettes (UB), sulphur coated urea (SCU), neem cake coated urea (NCU) and prilled urea. USG or UB were next in order and significantly superior to SCU, NCU and prilled urea, which were equally effective. Nitrogen application to rice left a significant residual effect on succeeding wheat, but various sources of nitrogen studied did not differ significantly in this respect.