Assessment of Age of Seedling and Weed Management Practices on Rice Yield Under System of Rice Intensification

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in N.E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre at Pantnagar during the Kharif seasons of 2010 and 2011. It was laid out in a factorial randomized block design with four replications. Twelve treatment combinations were made by combining two ages of seedlings and six weed management treatments to study the yield and yield attributes of rice under System of Rice Intensification (SRI). Ten and fifteen days old seedlings with six weed management practices namely 2 conoweeding (2CW) at 10 and 20 days after transplanting (DAT), 3 conoweeding at 10, 20 and 30 days after transplanting (3CW), 4 conoweeding at 10, 20, 30 and 40 days after transplanting (4CW), pre emergence application of Anilophos @ 1.5 kg a.i./ha + 1 hand weeding at 30 DAT (PE + 1HW), pre emergence application of Anilophos @ 1.5 kg a.i. + 2 conoweeding at 20 and 40 DAT (PE + 2CW) and modified SRI (25 × 12.5 cm spacing + pre emergence application of Anilophos @ 1.5 kg a.i. +2 conoweeding at 20 and 40 DAT) were taken. Among these treatment combinations, 10 days seedlings by adopting modified SRI performed better than 15 days old seedlings. Based on the 2 years studies, it can be concluded that transplanting of 10 days seedlings with modified SRI followed by 4CW produced higher yields but both these practices increased the cost of cultivation, whereas PE + 2CW resulted in highest net return and benefit cost ratio.