YIELD PERFORMANCE OF RICE (BRRI hybrid dhan4) INFLUENCED BY CHITOSAN RAW MATERIAL POWDER

Abstract

During the months of July to November 2020, a pot experiment was done under the net house at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to investigate the performance of a rice variety (BRRI hybrid dhan4) as influenced by chitosan raw material powder. Fourteen (14) inches size pots were used in the experiment, having length (10.5 inches) and diameter (9.5 inches). The pots were filled with 10 kg of moist field soil with a silty clay loam texture. The experiment was set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The experiment was comprised of six (6) treatments i.e. T = 0% chitosan raw material powder, T 2 = 0.1% chitosan raw material powder, T 3 1 = 0.2% chitosan raw material powder, T 4 = 0.3% chitosan raw material powder ,T = 0.4% chitosan raw material powder and T 6 5 = 0.5% chitosan raw material powder. Forty eight (48) replications were used in the experiment and the total number of experimental pots were two hundred eighty eight (6 x 48=288). All of the treatments applied in the experiment resulted in significant increases in seedling characteristics such as 100 seedling fresh weight, 100 seedling oven dry weight, seedling height, and seedling strength. The T treatment had the maximum seedling strength (4.97mg/cm), while the T 1 5 control treatment had the minimum seedling strength (4.2mg/cm). The trend of the seedling strength was T 5 >T 6 >T 4 >T 3 >T 2 >T . At the maximum tillering (MT) stage, biomass production increased. The growing tendency of seedling characteristics had a significant impact on early tiller production, tiller number, fresh and dry matter production, and yield at the maximum tillering stage. The T 2 1 treatment had the highest effective tillers/pot 15.7, while control T 1 had the lowest effective tillers/pot production (14.1). T

treatment produced the maximum grain yield (40.25 g/pot), while T produced the minimum grain yield (34.46 g/pot). Taken together, the research findings showed that chitosan raw material powder had a significant impact on seedling strength improvement, which in turn influenced maximum effective tiller production, resulting higher grain yield. The findings suggested that chitosan raw material powder could be used as an effective tool in yieldincreasing strategy of rice in Bangladesh under Climate Smart Agriculture.

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