Effect of nitrogen management and seedling raising methods on the productivity of Aus rice under tidal ecosystem of Bangladesh

Antara Sarker,Gopal Saha,Swadesh Chandra Samanta

doi:10.20956/ijab.v4i1.10114

Abstract

The low productivity of Aus rice in the tidal ecosystem of Bangladesh is mainly due to the difficulties in nitrogen (N) management under high tidal water along with unavailability of irrigation water during the onset of rice cultivation. Our present study demonstrated how the productivity of Aus rice could be improved using appropriate seedling raising methods and N management practices. The study was laid out in split plot design consisting two factors viz., seedling raising methods (wet seed bed and dry seed bed) and N management practices (six N treatments) in three replications. Results indicated that both the seedling raising methods and N management practices had significant effect on all the yield contributing characters of transplanted Aus rice under tidal condition. Specifically, the combination of seedlings raised in wet seed bed and fertilized with urea super granule (USG) at 10 days after transplanting (DAT) i.e., N3W showed the best values for plant height (110.33cm), number of effective tillers hill-1 (14.60), days required 50% flowering (53.00 DAT), days to maturity (84.33 DAT), panicle length (23.37 cm), number of filled grain panicle-1 (88.13), 1000-grain weight (43.17 g), grain yield (4.62 tha-1), straw yield (6.07 tha-1), biological yield (10.67 tha-1), and harvest index (43.17%). However, in considering the productivity/ grain yield, besides N3W, the whole urea application at land preparation along with wet seed bed (N1W) and USG application along with dry seed bed (N3D) also produced statistically similar results (p<0.01) and thus all these three combinations may be practiced for improving productivity and ensuring horizontal expansion of Aus rice in the tidal ecosystem of Bangladesh.

Highlights

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple food crops for over half of the world’s population and over 759.6 Mt of rice was produced globally in 2017 (FAO 2018)
Plant height was significantly influenced by seedling raising methods (p
The maximum plant height (110.33 cm) was found in N3W treatment combination i.e., urea super granule (USG) at 10 days after transplanting (DAT) in combination for the seedlings raised in wet bed and the lowest plant height (94.00 cm) was obtained in N0D treatment i.e. without nitrogen in case of the seedlings raised in the dry bed

Summary

Introduction

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple food crops for over half of the world’s population and over 759.6 Mt of rice was produced globally in 2017 (FAO 2018). After the 1980s, Aus production slowly began to lose priority to the farmers as they shifted to irrigated Boro rice cultivation due to its higher yield (BRRI 2011). Compare to Boro, Aus requires less irrigation and the plan is to cut dependency on the underground water for irrigation and arrest the fall in the water level in the aquifer Aus rice in this regard can create scope by scaling up production and shed dependency on the underground water (UNB 2017). Preparation of wet nursery bed and transplant Aus rice seedlings using the tidal water may be a good option. Till date there is no such comparative study on the yield variability of transplanted rice between wet and dry nursery bed

Methods

Results

Conclusion