| Abstract |
An experiment entitled “Performance evaluation of Rakthasali rice under different <br/>seed rates and nutrient management” was carried out at the Integrated Farming System <br/>Research Station, Karamana from October 2020 to January 2021 with the objectives to <br/>standardize the seed rate and to evaluate different nutrient management techniques for better <br/>yield and quality in Rakthasali rice. <br/>The experiment was laid out in factorial RBD with 12 treatment combinations <br/>replicated thrice. There were two factors ie., seed rate (S) and nutrient management (N) in <br/>three and four levels respectively. The three levels of seed rate were 60 kg ha-1 (s1), 80 kg ha-1 <br/>(s2) and 100 kg ha-1 (s3). The four levels of nutrient management were KAU POP <br/>recommendation for short duration rice ie., 5 t ha-1<br/>FYM + 70:35:35 kg ha-1 N, P and K (n1), <br/>KAU Adhoc organic recommendation for short duration rice ie., 5 t ha-1<br/>FYM + 750 kg ha-1<br/>neem cake half as basal and half as top dressing at active tillering (AT) stage (n2), basal dose <br/>of organics (5 t ha-1<br/>FYM) and PGPR Mix I (@ 2.5 kg mixed with 500 kg dried and <br/>powdered FYM for one ha applied at AT and panicle initiation (PI) stages (n3) and basal dose <br/>of organics (5 t ha-1<br/>FYM + 375 kg ha-1<br/>neem cake at AT) + foliar spray of panchagavya <br/>(3%) at flowering and PI stages (n4). <br/>The results of the study indicated that seed rate and nutrient management could <br/>significantly influence growth parameters, physiological characters, nutrient uptake, yield <br/>attributes, yield and economics of cultivation. <br/>Seed rate of 80 kg ha-1 (s2) registered significantly taller plants at maximum tillering <br/>(MT) (67.81 cm), panicle initiation (72.52 cm) and harvest stages (89.99cm). Tiller number <br/>m<br/>-2 was also influenced by seed rate with s2 resulting in significantly higher tiller number of <br/>240.25, 231.83 and 214.67 at MT, PI and harvest stages respectively. Shoot weight was also <br/>found influenced by seed rates with s2 resulting in significantly the highest shoot weight of <br/>24.56 g plant-1<br/>. The combined effect of taller plants with more tillers and higher shoot weight <br/>resulted in significantly highest drymatter production (4797 kg ha-1<br/>) under s2.<br/>Nutrient management with KAU POP recommendation (n1) could result in <br/>significantly taller plants at MT (66.99 cm), PI (73.15 cm) and harvest stages (90.44 cm) of <br/>crop. Tiller number m-2 were also found significantly influenced with n1 resulting in 233.67, <br/>226.66 and 207.33 tillers respectively at MT, PI and harvest stages of crop. Significantly <br/>highest shoot weight of 25.22 g plant -1 was recorded with n1. The combined effect of taller <br/>plants with more number of tillers and shoot weight resulted in significantly the highest dry <br/>matter productionof 4790.22 kg ha-1<br/>under n1. KAU Adhoc organic package (n2) also <br/>recorded a performance on par to n1. <br/>Physiological parameters like LAI, SCMR and nutrient uptake were also significantly <br/>influenced by seed rate and nutrient management. Seed of 80 kg ha-1<br/>(s2) resulted in <br/>significantly the highest LAI of 2.77 and SCMR of 29.10 and 35.07 respectively at PI and <br/>flowering stages. Significantly the highest nutrient uptake ie., 49.30 kg ha-1<br/>of N, 14.18 kg ha1 of P and 46.25 kg ha-1<br/>of K were obtained with s2.<br/>KAU POP recommendation of nutrients (n1) resulted in significantly the highest LAI <br/>of 2.75 and SCMR of 29.52 and 35.01 respectively at PI and flowering stages of crop. <br/>Significantly highest nutrient uptake ie., 49.22 kg ha-1<br/>of N, 14.11 kg ha-1 of P and 46.58 kg <br/>ha-1 K were also obtained with n1. KAU Adhoc organic package (n2) also recorded <br/>comparable performance as that with n1<br/>Yield attributes viz., number of panicles m-2<br/>, length of panicle, total grains per <br/>panicle, number of filled grains per panicle and thousand grain weight were significantly <br/>influenced by seed rate and nutrient management. Seed rate of 80 kg ha-1<br/>(s2) resulted in <br/>significantly the highest number of panicles per unit area (174.92 m-2<br/>), the longest panicles <br/>(18.07 cm), the highest number of grains per panicle (84.75), higher number of filled grains <br/>per panicle (67.25) and thousand grain weight (11.349 g).<br/>KAU recommended nutrient management (n1) resulted in significantly the highest <br/>number of panicles (169.22 m-2<br/>), longest panicles (18.32 cm), highest number of grains per <br/>panicle (84.78), highest number of filled grains per panicle (69.89) and thousand grain weight <br/>(11.380 g). Performance of KAU Adhoc organic package (n2) was on par with n1<br/>Grain yield, straw yield and harvest index (HI) were also significantly influenced by <br/>seed rate and nutrient management with s2 recording the significantly the highest grain <br/>(1.59 t ha-1<br/>) and straw (3.41 t ha-1<br/>) yields and HI of 0.323.<br/>Significantly highest grain (1.61 t ha-1<br/>) and straw (3.43 t ha-1<br/>) yields and HI (0.322) <br/>were recorded with n1 (integrated nutrient management as per KAU POP). With regard to the <br/>organic nutrition practices experimented for the crop, KAU Adhoc organic package (n2) was <br/>on par with n1. <br/>Nutrient management with KAU Adhoc organic package (n2) resulted in significantly<br/>highest grain protein content of 11.33 g 100g-1<br/>.<br/>Post harvest soil analysis revealed that N, P and K availability were significantly <br/>influenced with KAU POP recommendation for short duration rice (n1) recording <br/>significantly highest soil N (330 kg ha-1<br/>), P (53 kg ha-1<br/>) and K (52 kg ha-1<br/>). KAU <br/>recommended Adhoc organic package (n2) was on par with n1.<br/> Net returns and B:C ratio also varied significantly with seed rate and nutrient <br/>management with s2 recording significantly highest net income of ₹55507/- and B:C ratio of <br/>1.46. Among different nutrient management practices KAU POP recommendation (n1) <br/>resulted in significantly highest net returns of ₹62175/- and B:C ratio of 1.53.<br/>The interaction effect of seed rate and nutrient management could also make a <br/>significant influence on growth parameters, physiological characters, nutrient uptake, yield <br/>attributes, yield and economics of cultivation. <br/>Seed rate @ 80 kg ha-1<br/>+ KAU recommended integrated nutrient management (s2n1) <br/>resulted in significant growth improvement which was reflected in plant height at maximum <br/>tillering (71.93 cm), panicle initiation (76.57 cm) and harvest (93.73 cm) stages. The same <br/>treatment also recorded highest tiller count of 245 nos, 236 nos and 219 nos at MT, PI and <br/>harvest stages respectively and the highest shoot weight of 26.89 g per plant.<br/>The treatment combination s2n1 also resulted in significant improvement in <br/>physiological characters like LAI (3.02) and SCMR of 32.13 and 38.03 at panicle initiation <br/>and flowering stages respectively.<br/>Treatment combination s2n1 also resulted in significant improvement in yield <br/>attributes with higher number of panicles (180.67 m-2<br/>), longest panicle (19.16 cm), highest <br/>number of grains per panicle (87), higher number of filled grains per panicle (72.67), grain <br/>yield (1.69 t ha-1<br/>), straw yield (3.50 t ha-1<br/>) and H.I of 0.327.<br/>The treatment combination s2n1 also resulted in significantly the highest net returns of <br/>₹70501/- and B:C ratio of 1.60.<br/>The results of the study revealed that growth, physiological characters, nutrient <br/>uptake, yield and economics of Rakthasali rice cultivation were significantly influenced by <br/>varying seed rates and nutrient management. Seed rate of 80 kg ha-1<br/>and crop nourishment <br/>through the integrated nutrient management as recommended by KAU could be adjudged as <br/>the best treatment. <br/> Considering the productivity and economics, broadcasting at a seed rate of 80 kg ha-1<br/>along with integrated nutrient management as per KAU POP for short duration rice ie., 5 tha-1 <br/>FYM + 70:35:35 kg N P K per ha could be recommended for Rakthasali, the medicinal rice <br/>of Kerala. |
