Morphological traits and yield performance of Purple rice under varying plant densities

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Field Laboratory, Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University during Aman season 2018 primarily to describe agro-morphological descriptors of a purple rice cultivar and to evaluate the effect of spacing on morphological traits, yield contribut- ing characters and yield. The experiment comprised four rice cultivars; Purple rice and three other check cultivars viz. BR22, BRRI dhan34 and BRRI dhan46, and three spacing viz. 15cm×15cm, 20cm×15cm and 25cm×15 cm. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. All the studied morphological traits, yield contributing characters and yield were significantly differed among the cultivars and planting densities. Purple rice cultivar was 101.8 cm in height; the number of total tillers hill⁻¹ 12.88, number of non-effective tiller hill⁻¹ 1.37; leaf vertical and straight, purple in colour; panicle length 23.63 cm, number of primary and secondary branches panicle⁻¹13.28 and 15.56, length of primary and secondary branch 8.91 cm and 2.26 cm, number of total and unfilled grains panicle⁻¹ 140.5 and 57.95, respectively; 1000-grains weight 21.92 g, grain yield 3.55 tha⁻¹, harvest index 51.03% and lifespan 115 days. The spacing 25 cm × 15 cm was found to be better for both growth and grain yield of Purple rice. Purple rice could be used as potential breeding material for its exceptional morphological characteristics.