AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF LOCAL AND HIGHYIELDING VARIETIES OF BORO RICE UNDER DIFFERENT AGE OF SEEDLINGS

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Farmers’ Field at village Patnipara, Chicknagul union under Jointapur Upazila in Sylhet district during the period from November 2012 to June 2013 under Agroecological Zone 20 (Eastern Surma- Kushiyara Floodplain) to observe the performance of variety and seedling age on the growth, yield and economic performances of high yielding and local varieties of boro rice. Four varieties viz. BRRI dhan28, BRRI dhan29, Khoiaboro and Begunbichi, and three seedling ages viz. 15, 20 and 25 day-old were included as experimental treatments. The experiment was laid out in a factorial RCBD (Randomized Complete Block Design) with three replications. The characters plant height, total number of tiller hill -1 , length of panicle, number of total spikelet panicle , number of effective tiller hill -1 , number of non-effective tiller plant -1 , 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield and harvest index studied in the experiment were varied significantly among the varieties. The results revealed that BRRI dhan29 produced significantly highest grain yield (6.25 t ha -1 , grain panicle, unfilled spikelet panicle -1 , grain panicle -1 ) attributed by the higher number of effective tiller hill -1 -1 and 1000-grain weight. BRRI dhan28 produced the second highest grain yield (5.37 t ha -1 ) in spite of its highest number of grain panicle ) while the local variety Begunbichi produced the lowest grain yield (2.26 t ha -1 because of its small sized grain. Total number of spikelet panicle -1 -1 , grain and straw yield varied significantly but the other characters did not among different ages of seedlings. The highest grain yield (4.49 t ha , number of grain panicle -1 , unfilled spikelet panicle -1 -1 ) was obtained from 25 day-old seedling ascribed to higher number grain panicle -1 produced by 20 day-old seedling was statistically similar to that of 25 and 15 day-old seedlings. Interaction of variety and seedling age produced significant effect on most of the characters except plant height, number of non-effective tiller hill . Grain yield of 4.23 t ha -1 , length of panicle and grain yield. Variety Khoiaboro produced the highest number of effective tiller hill -1 -1 (51.5). Local variety Begunbichi produced the highest number of grain panicle (25.47) having the lowest number of grain panicle -1 (171.7) with 20 day-old seedling statistically similar to that of 25 day-old seedling (167.7 grain panicle -1 ) of the same. Cost and return analysis showed that BRRI dhan29 gave maximum gross, net returns and BCR of Tk. 128360.00, Tk. 51102.00 and 1.66, respectively with 25 day-old seedling. Interestingly, local variety Begunbichi showed more profitability than BRRI dhan28 and Khoiaboro rice varieties. -1