Effect of Plant Spacing and Fertilizer Management on the Yield Performance of BRRI dhan39 under Old Brahmaputra Floodplain Soil

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from June to December 2015 to investigate the effect of spacing and fertilizer management on the yield of transplanted Aman rice cv. BRRI dhan39. The experiment comprised of five spacings viz. 25 × 5 cm, 25 × 10 cm, 25 × 15 cm, 25 × 20 cm, 25 × 25 cm and four fertilizer schedules viz. no manure and no fertilizer (control), recommended dose of inorganic fertilizer (80-60-40 kg N, P2 O5 , K2 O ha-1, respectively + 60 kg ha-1 gypsum + 10 kg ha-1 ZnSO4 ), 75% recommended dose of inorganic fertilizer + cow dung at 5 t ha-1, 75% recommended dose of inorganic fertilizer + poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Plant height (104.60 cm), number of total tillers hill-1 (11.03), panicle length (22.25 cm), grains panicle-1 (109.00) and grain yield (4.42 t ha-1) were found to be the highest in 25 × 15 cm spacing. Regarding nutrient management, 75% recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cow dung at 5 t ha-1 superseded other treatments in terms of plant height (107.50 cm), number of total tillers hill-1 (10.40), number of effective tillers hill-1 (7.68), panicle length (22.26 cm), grains panicle-1 (111.70) and grain yield (4.14 t ha-1). The control treatment (no manures and no fertilizers) gave the lowest values for all these parameters. The highest grain yield (4.57 t ha-1) was found in 25 × 15 cm spacing combined with 75% recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cow dung at 5 t ha-1 and the lowest grain yield (2.50 t ha-1) was found in 25 × 5 cm spacing combined with control (no manures and fertilizers). Therefore, 25 × 15 cm spacing combined with 75% recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cow dung at 5 t ha-1 appeared as the promising practice in transplant Aman rice cv. BRRI dhan39 cultivation.