ENHANCING RAINFED UPLAND RICE PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PLANT DENSITY, WEED AND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

NILAY BORAH¹*, J. DEKA², N.C. DEKA³, I.C. BARUA⁴, K.K. SHARMA⁵, S. MAIBANGSA⁶, S. HAZARIKA⁷, S. BHATTACHARYA⁸, K. GOSWAMI^9
1Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785013, Assam, India
²DWR Centre, Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785013, Assam, India
³DWR Centre, Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785013, Assam, India
⁴DWR Centre, Department of Agronomy, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785013, Assam, India
⁵ICAR-Regional Agricultural Research Station, North Lakhimpur, Gorumuria, Lalkhimpur 787032, Assam, India
⁶ICAR-Regional Agricultural Research Station, North Lakhimpur, Gorumuria, Lalkhimpur 787032, Assam, India
⁷ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Lakhimpur, Gorumuria, Lalkhimpur 787032, Assam, India
⁸ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Lakhimpur, Gorumuria, Lalkhimpur 787032, Assam, India
⁹Department of Soil Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 785013, Assam, India
* Corresponding Author : nilayborah@rediffmail.com

Received : 17-04-2017     Accepted : 02-05-2017     Published : 30-05-2017
Volume : 9     Issue : 25       Pages : 4296 - 4303
Int J Agr Sci 9.25 (2017):4296-4303

Keywords : Comlizer, Rainfed rice, Integrated weed management, Reduced plant density
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The authors are grateful to Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 7851013, Assam, India for providing the necessary support and facilities for conducting the experiment
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

A field experiment was conducted during autumn seasons of 2012 and 2013 to evaluate compost-fertilizer mixture (comlizer) on growth and yield of rainfed direct seeded rice (DSR) in upland situation under reduced plant density and integrated weed management (IW). Rice crop was sown 20 cm apart in band (BS) with recommended fertilizers doses (RFD), and weeds were managed either through application of pretilachlor 750 g/ha a.i. followed by working with grubber at 20 and 40 days after sowing (IW-1), or kept without weed management (weedy). Rice crop was also grown with reduced plant density by drilling the seeds in lines 20 cm apart maintaining 15 cm between seeds (DS). The DS was evaluated either, with RFD and mechanical weed management (MW) by working with grubber at 20 and 40 days after sowing (DAS), or comlizer in single split (Comlizer-S) or double splits (Comlizer-D) with pretilachlor 750 g/ha a.i. followed by grubber at 30 DAS (IW-2). IW-1 and IW-2 significantly reduced weed density and dry weight compared to MW or weedy. Application of comlizer in two splits increased effective tillers per unit area, average number of filled grains per panicle, and grain yield of rice compared to recommended fertilizer dose. The positive effect of comlizer application on growth and yield parameters of rice was explained by improvement in root growth and available nutrient status in soil vis-à-vis nutrient uptake by the crop. The root growth in terms of dry weight and volume was enhanced due to split application of comlizer that utilized a consistent pool of available nutrients from soil.

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