GROWTH AND YIELD OF BORO RICE AS AFFECTED BY FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in Boro season, 2020-21 to compare the performance of fortified rice variety BRRI dhan84 with non-fortified mega variety BRRI dhan89 and suitable fertilizer combination for maximum growth and yield. Treatments were: two rice variety viz., i) BRRI dhan84 (V ) and ii) BRRI dhan89 (V ) in the main plot and seven different fertilizer management viz., i) no fertilizer (F 2 1 ), ii) recommended NPKS (RFD) with Zn as basal (F ), iii) RFD + Zn as foliar spray at anthesis (F ), iv) RFD + Zn & B as foliar spray at anthesis (F 4 3 ), v) 50% RFD + 50% Cowdung as basal (F ), vi) 50% RFD + 50% Cowdung + Zn & B as basal (F 6 5 ) and vii) 50% RFD + 50% Cowdung as basal + Zn & B as foliar at anthesis (F ) in the sub-plot. The experiment was laid out in a Split-plot design having 3 replications. No significant variations observed between the two varieties for almost all the studied characters except filled grains panicle -1 7 where the variety BRRI dhan89 showed higher number of grains panicles -1 (116.14) than the other variety. RFD with foliar application of zinc and born (F ) gave the highest plant height at harvest (102.54 cm), effective tillers hill 4 -1 (12.83) that similar (13.00) with F (RFD with Zn as basal), panicle length (25.91 cm), 1000-grain weight (23.58 g), grain yield (7.67 t ha -1 ), biological yield (14.85 t ha -1 2 ) and harvest index (51.69%). Irrespective of varieties, F resulted superior response for almost all the studied parameters. Foliar application of zinc and boron at anthesis (F 4 ) along with RFD increased 8.79 and 27.45% yield in BRRI dhan89 compared to that of RFD with Zn as foliar (F 3 ) and RFD with Zn and B basal (F ) application, respectively that was 17.11 and 26.77% for the other fortified rice variety BRRI dhan84. Foliar application of Zn and B along with recommended doses of NPKS can be recommended for Boro rice cultivation.