IMPROVEMENT OF LATE SOWING BORO (BRRI dhan88) SEEDLING CHARACTERS AND YIELD BY USING CHITOSAN RAW MATERIAL POWDER

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted under the net house of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka, Bangladesh, during November 2019 to April 2020, to investigate the improvement of late sowing Boro seedling characters and yield by using chitosan raw material powder in seedbed soil. The experiment was consisted of two factors and following Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. Factor A: Level of chitosan raw material powder(w/w) (06) viz; C 0 = 0%, C 1 = 0.1%, C 2 = 0.2%, C 3 = 0.3%, C 4 = 0.4% and C 5 = 0.5% and Factor B: Different seedling age (3) viz; S 1 = 40 days old seedling, S 2 = 45 days old seedling and S 3 = 50 days old seedling. Experimental results revealed that among different levels of chitosan raw material powder, seedling treated with C 3 (0.3 %) treatment perform well and recorded the maximum average seedling height (17.75 cm), fresh weight seedling -1 (531.67 mg), oven dry weight seedling -1 (96.67 mg), seedling strength (5.44 mg/cm) , effective tillers pot -1 (28.33), minimum days for first flowering (66.92), minimum days for 100 % flowering (72.58), lowest unfilled grains weight pot (1.42 g), maximum 1000 grains weight (21.93 g), maximum grain yield pot (63.25 g), maximum straw yield pot -1 (63.08 g), maximum biological yield pot -1 (126. 34 g) and harvest index (49.84 %). In case of different seedling age, the maximum effective tillers pot -1 (22.96), minimum days for first flowering (65.88), minimum days for 100% flowering (71.58), unfilled grains weight pot -1 (1.35 g), maximum 1000 seeds weight (21.15 g), grain yield pot -1 (60.88 g), straw yield pot -1 (62.58 g), biological yield pot -1 (126.34 g) and harvest index (49.14 %) were obtained in S 1 (40 days old seedling) treatment. In case of combined effect, recorded the maximum 1000 seeds weight (23.08 g), grain yield pot -1 (68.92 g), straw yield pot -1 (66.75 g) and biological yield pot -1 (135.67 g) were obtained in C 3 S 1 treatment combination. Chitosan raw material powder strongly improved the seedling characters at low temperature conditions, yield and yield attributing characters of BRRI dhan88. Thus for cultivation of BRRI dhan88, it is suggested that optimum level (0.3%) of chitosan raw material powder could be applied in the seedbed soil along with transplanting young (40 days old) seedling perform well for obtaining higher grain yield. -1 -1