EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CROP ESTABLISHMENT ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF A SPRING RICE AT JANAKPURDHAM-17, DHANUSHA

The study was conducted to know and evaluate the performance of different methods of crop establishment of Hardinath-1, spring rice, under RCBD with 5 treatments and 4 replications; treatments used were- Open, straight row, SRI, random and dry bed method of transplanting. The parameters like number of tillers per square meter, plant height, panicle length, effective number of tillers per square meter, thousand grain weight, grain yield in MT/ha and sterility percentage were accounted for the study. The findings suggest statistical similarity in grain yield for SRI (4.475 Mt/ha), straight row (4.45 Mt/ha) and open method of transplanting (4.45 Mt/ha), although the former, literally, being a slight superior among three. Random (20.00a) and dry bed (19.64a) method of transplanting were statistically at par and highest in value for sterility percentage followed by open (17.68b), SRI (16.73bc) and straight row (16.12c) method, the least of all. SRI method of transplanting exhibited highest mean value for number of tillers/m2 (294.4), thousand grain weight (22.87a), effective number of tillers/m2 (254.8a), grain yield (4.475 t/ha) and second lowest sterility percentage and plant height after straight row method of transplanting. Straight row method of transplanting exhibited highest mean value for plant height (39.36 cm, 43.02 cm, 43.91 cm and 102.28 cm) and lowest sterility percentage (16.12c) but, showed comparatively poor performance in other parameters in respect to SRI method of transplanting. Dry bed method, as a whole, comparatively exhibited the worst performance of all and thus, categorized as control treatment. This study suggests that SRI method of crop establishment is an easy and effective technique for improving physiological and yield attributing characters of spring rice