<p>Aromatic rice is sensitive to time and source of N fertilization for its photosynthetic potentiality, lodging, productivity and grain quality. Real-time N management to maintain the synchrony between crop N demand and supply is a key factor to increase N use efficiency, while organic manure facilitates nutrient availability and improves soil physico-biology. Keeping these in view, two field experiments were conducted at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India during wet season, where 3 black-husked scented rice cultivars (<i>Kalojira</i>, <i>Kalonunia</i> and <i>NC 365</i>) and one small-grain aromatic rice (<i>Gobindabhog)</i> were tested under organic manure and leaf colour chart (LCC) based N top dressing with neem-coated urea, nano urea and mustard cake. The chlorophyll a and b content in <i>Gobindabhog</i> rice leaf was about 1.7:1 at active tillering stage and 3.0:1 at pre-heading stage, while N top dressing with mustard cake at LCC &lt; 3 recorded higher SPAD values at both the stages than two forms of urea. <i>NC 365</i> produced taller plants with greater lodging habit and higher productivity compared to <i>Kalojira</i> (–7.1% less yield) and <i>Kalonunia</i> (–17.9%). Mustard cake top dressed twice resulted in greater growth, maximum grain yield and better aroma for all scented rice cultivars, but cow dung manure favoured amylose content, elongation ratio and aroma. The foliar spray of nano urea (4&#xa0;ml litre^− 1) thrice showed comparable effect, but had no definite trend on yield and quality of aromatic rice. The significant positive correlation was noted between grain yield and LAI (<i>r</i> = 0.793**), total chlorophyll content (<i>r</i> = 0.610*) and SPAD value (<i>r</i> = 0.654*) at pre-heading stage.</p>