MINIMIZATION OF NITROGEN ON YIELD AND GRAINQUALITY OF SCENTED RICE

Abstract

The study was conducted in the experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka during the period from June to December 2017 to assess the minimization of nitrogen on yield and grain quality of scented rice. Scented rice cultivars Kalizira, BRRI dhan34, Begun Bichi and Sada Sanne were used as the test crops in this experiment. The experiment consisted of two factors: Factor A: Levels of nitrogen (4 levels) as- N 1 : 37.5 kg N ha : 40.0 kg N ha -1 , N 3 : 42.5 kg N ha -1 , N 4 : 45 kg N ha -1 ; and Factor B: Scented rice variety (4 varieties) as- V 1 : Kalizira, V 2 : BRRI dhan34, V 3 : Begun Bichi and V 4 : Sada Sanne. The two factors experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications. The four levels of N were assigned in the main plot and 4 scented rice varieties in the sub-plot. Data were recorded on yield contributing characters, yield and quality of scented rice and statistically significant variation was recorded for most of the studied characters for different treatments. Results revealed that nitrogen and/or different varieties had significant effect on most of the yield and quality contributing parameters. Effective tillers, filled grains, weight of milled rice, protein content, proline content and grain 2-AP content increased with increasing nitrogen level upto a certain level. But N level had no significant effect on 1000 grains weight, harvest index and amylose content among the four scented rice varieties. Among the treatment combinations, the highest number of effective tillers hill -1 (15.40) was found from N 3 V 2 -1 , N 2 and the lowest number (8.40) from N 1

treatment combination. The highest grain yield (3.47 t ha -1 ) was found from N 3 , whereas the lowest (1.43 t ha -1 ) was recorded from N 1 V 3 treatment combination. The highest protein content (9.20%) was recorded from N 3 V 4 and the lowest (7.04%) was observed from N 3 V 3 treatment combination. The highest proline content (25.54 mg g -1 ) was observed from N 3 V 2 , while the lowest (18.08 mg g ) was found from N 3 V 3 treatment combination. The highest grain 2-AP content (1.06 µg g -1 ) was recorded from N 3 V 3 and the lowest (0.78 µg g -1 ) was observed from N 3 V 1 treatment combination. Data revealed that 40.0 kg N ha scented rice variety BRRI dhan34 showed best performance when considered yield with protein, amylose, proline and 2-AP content. So, Bangladeshi rice growers can produce high quality aromatic rice through 11.11% minimization of nitrogen without sacrificing its yield. -1 and

V 3 V 2 -1