Effect of irrigation regimes, mid-season drainage and time of application of nitrogen on growth and yield of hybrid rice

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at the Central Farm of the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, India during the rabi (October-January) seasons of 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 in a split plot design with three replications. The soil of the experiments was sandy clay loam with a neutral reaction. The main plot consisted of six irrigation schedules with mid-season drainage, while four N splits were taken as sub- plots. The experimental results revealed that irrigation to a depth of 5 cm one day after the disappearance of ponded water and mid-season drainage, along with N applied in four splits, with 16.7% at 10 days after transplanting, 33.3% at active tillering, 33.3% at panicle initiation and 16.7% at the heading stage, produced significantly higher growth, yield attributes, grain and straw yields in hybrid rice. A combination of the above treatments led to maximum grain yields of 7533 and 8078 kg ha-1 (45.53 and 45.86% in excess of the control) in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, respectively.