Growth and yield of transplanted Aman rice cv. Binadhan-16 as influenced by seedling age and nitrogen fertilization at staggered transplanting

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University to find out the effect of age of seedlings and level of nitrogen on growth and yield of transplant Aman rice cv. Binadhan-16. T. Aman rice seedlings of four different ages (15, 20, 25 and 30-day old) were examined with four levels of nitrogen (0, 50, 70 and 90 kg N ha⁻¹). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results revealed that the effect of age of seedlings and level of nitrogen and their interaction was significant on growth, yield and yield contributing characters of transplant Aman rice. The highest plant height and total dry matter production hill−1 were recorded in the plots of 15-day old seedlings with 70 kg N ha⁻¹. Grain yield gradually increased with the use of relatively younger seedlings and with 15-day old seedlings produced the highest number of effective tillers hill⁻¹ (8.583) and grains panicle⁻¹ (122.7) as well as the highest grain yield (4.265 t ha⁻¹) and straw yield (5.392 t ha⁻¹). In case of level of nitrogen, 70 kg N ha⁻¹ produced the highest grains panicle⁻¹ (114.1), grain yield (4.539 t ha⁻¹) and straw yield (5.623 t ha⁻¹). Interaction effect showed that, 15-day old seedlings with 70 kg N ha⁻¹ produced the highest number of effective tillers hill⁻¹ (9.71), grain yield (5.17 t ha⁻¹) and straw yield (6.20 t ha⁻¹). Therefore, 15-day old seedlings with 70 kg N ha−1 appeared as the promising technique to obtain the highest grain yield.