Response of rice (Oryza sativa L.) on seedling age and number of seedlings per planting hole

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to investigate the growth and yield response of paddy rice on transplanting seedling ages and number of seedlings per planting hole. This research was conducted in October 2016 until January 2017 in Petuaran Hulu Village, Pegajahan Subdistrict, Serdang Bedagai Regency, North Sumatera Province. The experimental design used was a Randomized Block Design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was the age of transplanting seedlings with four levels (12, 16, 20, and 24 days). The second factor was the number of seedlings per planting hole with four levels (1, 2, 3, and 4 seedlings per planting hole). Analysis of Variance was conducted in order to see the effect of the treatments. The treatments that showed significant effect was tested with Duncan to compare among treatments effect. The results showed that transplanting seedling age and number of seedlings per planting hole had significant effect on plant height, number of tillers, but no significant effect on stem diameter, number of productive tillers, panicle length, and productivity. The effect of interaction of the two treatments had no significant effect on all observed parameters. Transplanting seedling age of 12 days and one seedling per planting hole was suggested to be applied for rice cultivation.