Response of Different Seedling Establishment Methods on Growth and Yield of Rice in Terai Region of Nepal

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Agronomy farm, Rampur Campus, Chitwan to evaluate the effect of seedlings establishment methods on growth and yield of main season rice, 2021. RCBD design was used with four replications and six treatments viz. T1- Farmers’ practice (random transplanting), T2- traditional transplanting (20cm*20cm), T3- System of Rice Intensification, T4- non-puddled transplanting, T5- wet DSR (broadcasting), and T6- wet DSR (line-sowing). The foundation seed of Ramdhan was used as a study material. Data were recorded on different growth, yield and yield attributing traits. ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) for all parameters except number of effective tillers m-2, number of unfilled grains panicle-1 and sterility percentage. Lowest effective tillers m-2, biological yield, number of filled and total grains panicle-1 was observed in T6 resulting in lower grain yield (4.92 tonha-1). Highest thousand grains weight (23.18gm), grain yield (6.13 tonha-1), and harvest index (22.13%) were recorded in T3. The highest grain yield of T3 was followed by T2 (5.82tonha-1) at par with T1 (5.73tonha-1). The minimum sterility percentage was 30.49% in T4. Plant height at 120 DAS, number of tillers hill-1 120 DAS, number of leaves hill-1 105DAS, LAI 105DAS, panicle length and no. of filled grains panicle-1 expressed a positive correlation with grain yield. The regression value showed that the maximum variation in grain yield was governed by PH at 120DAS (62.37%), LAI at 105 DAS (61.85%), and panicle length (47.04%) primarily.