GROWTH AND YIELD OF BORO RICE AS AFFECTED BY SEEDLING AGE AND PLANTING GEOMETRY UNDER SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from December 2011 to May 2012 to study the growth and yield of Boro rice as affected by seedling age and planting geometry under System of Rice Intensification (SRI). BRRI dhan50 were used as the test crop of this experiment. The experiment comprised of two factors. Factor A: Seedling age (4 levels); 12 days old seedling, 14 days old seedling, 16 days old seedling & 30 days old seedling and Factor B: Plant spacing: (5 levels); 25 cm × 25 cm, 30 cm × 30 cm, 35 cm × 35 cm, 40 cm × 40 cm and 25 cm × 15 cm. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications. Due to the interaction effect of seedling age and planting geometry, the maximum number of effective tillers hill-1 (39.20) was found in the treatment combination of 12 days old seedlings transplanted in 40 cm × 40 cm spacing and the minimum number (16.20) in same seedling age with 25 cm × 15 cm spacing. The longest panicle (23.90 cm) was found in the treatment combination of 14 days old seedlings with 30 cm × 30 cm spacing and the shortest (22.38 cm) in 16 days old seedlings having 25 cm × 25 cm spacing. The maximum number of filled grains panicle-1 (108.97) was found in the treatment combination of 14 days old seedlings with 40 cm × 40 cm spacing and the minimum number (84.60) in 16 days old seedlings having 25 cm × 25 cm spacing. The highest grain yield (7.11 t ha-1) and straw yield (6.86 t ha-1) were found in the treatment combination of 16 days old seedlings transplanted in 40 cm × 40 cm spacing whereas the lowest grain yield (3.21 t ha-1) in 30 days old seedlings with 30 cm × 30 cm spacing but straw yield (2.70 t ha-1) in 16 days old seedlings with 30 cm × 30 cm spacing. The 16 days old seedlings planted in 40 cm × 40 cm spacing showed the better response in most of the studied parameters.