Abstract:
The experiment was conducted at the research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh during the Boro season (November, 2016 to
May, 2017) to investigate the role of different levels of salicylic acid (SA) as foliar
spray on growth and yield performance of BRRI dhan29. The experiment was laid out
in a randomized complete block design with six replications. The experiment was
comprised of six treatments having five levels of SA. The treatments were T
= 0 mM
SA, T
2
= 0.25 mM SA, T
3
= 0.5 mM SA, T
4
ii
= 0.75 mM SA, T
5
1
= 1.0 mM SA and T
=
2.0 mM SA. The results revealed that lower doses of SA (upto 0.75 mM) has a
positive effect on biomass production including plant height, effective tiller per hill,
total tiller per hill, filled grain per panicle, grain yield and straw yield of BRRI
dhan29 but not in higher doses upto 2.0 mM. The highest dry matter production at
both maximum tillering stage and panicle initiation stage was found in the treatment
T
having foliar spray of 0.5 mM SA. The highest number of effective tillers per hill
(14.66) was found in the treatment T
3
due to the application of 0.75 mM salicylic acid.
The highest number of filled grain was found in treatment T
4
. The maximum grain
yield (8.13 t/ha) was found in the treatment T
4
4
. On the other hand, minimum grain
yield (7.02 t/ha) was found in the treatment T
1
(control)
According to grain yield
treatments can be arranged as T
4
>T
3
>T
2
>T
5
>T
6
>T
1
.
. Maximum straw yield (11.66
t/ha) was found in treatment T
due to application of 0.25 mM SA and minimum
straw yield (9.84 t/ha) was found in T
2
having 2 mM SA which was statistically
identical with the control, T
1
6
. The treatments can be arranged according to straw yield
as T
2
>T
4
>T
3
>T
5
>T
6
>T
. This experiment showed that the maximum grain yield was
found in the treatment T
1
but the maximum biomass production was found in the
Treatment T
2
4
. From these results it can be concluded that some of the important
growth parameters and yield contributing characters were improved due to the foliar
spray of SA resulting higher yield of BRRI dhan29. No negative effect was found on
BRRI dhan29 due to the foliar spray of SA upto 2.0 mM. The positive effect of low
doses of SA was observed on yield and yield contributing characters of BRRI dhan29.
The obtained results might be due to the increase of photosynthate, alleviation of
stress tolerance mechanism by producing lignin and suberin, enhancement of insect
and pathogen resistance of plants and so on. Taken together, my results suggest that
foliar spray of SA can be used in BRRI dhan29 cultivation in Bangladesh.
Description:
A Thesis
Submitted to The Department of Soil Science,
Faculty of Agriculture
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS)
SOIL SCIENCE