Prospective Evaluation of Growth, Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Six Selective Rice Cultivars in Strongly Saline Soil of Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose: Over the past two decades, rice production has been seriously threatened by the progressively diminishing agricultural land caused by both environmental and anthropogenic issues. To support the policy decisions for food security in Bangladesh, we must use marginal soil, such as salt-affected soil and suitable variety for a particular region for higher yield. Methods: A field experiment was conducted in saline soil (8.7 dS m-1) in Khulna, Bangladesh during December 2020 to April 2021 to identify the best rice cultivar following Randomized Complete Block design with three replications. Six rice varieties (BRRI dhan47, BRRI dhan28, BRRI dhan67, Black rice, Violet rice and Heera hybrid) were tested in this experiment to observe their growth and yield performance as well as macro nutrient uptake. Results: In this study, Black rice died at 74 days after transplanting due to the excess salt stress. The findings revealed that Heera hybrid rice produced significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher tiller hill-1, panicle hill-1, panicle length, biological yield, harvest index, grain yield, straw yield, total grain panicle-1 and filled grain compared to other varieties except BRRI dhan67. On the other hand, significantly highest number of leaf hill-1, 1000-grain weight, P, S and Na uptake was obtained from BRRI dhan67. Additionally, maximum grain N and K uptake was observed for Heera hybrid rice as compared with other cultivars. Conclusions: It can be summarized that Heera hybrid and BRRI dhan67 could be effective to improve rice production and nutrient uptake in coastal saline soil of Bangladesh followed by BRRI dhan47, BRRI dhan28 and Violet rice.