Performance of mechanically transplanted Basmati rice (Oryza sativa) under different age of seedlings and planting densities Kang J.S.1, Kaur Jagroop2,*, Sandhu S.S.3 Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141 004 1Senior Agronomist, Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 2Assistant Agronomist, Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 3Assistant Agronomist, Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorolgy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab *Corresponding author's Email: jagroopsekhon@pau.edu
Online published on 25 October, 2019. Abstract A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 at Ludhiana, Punjab, to study the effect of age of seedlings and planting density on growth and yield of mechanically transplanted Basmati rice (Oryza sativa L.). Mechanical transplanting of 3-weeks-old seedlings at 30 cm × 12 cm spacing showed significantly higher plant height, dry-matter accumulation, leaf-area index and number of effective tillers/unit area than 3, 4 and 5-weeks-old seedlings at 30 cm × 16 cm. The grain yield of mechanically transplanted 3-weeks-old seedlings at 30 cm × 12 cm spacing was 4.1 and 12.1% higher than 30 cm × 14 cm and 30 cm × 16 cm spacing respectively. Although the grain yield under mechanical transplanting of 3-weeks-old seedlings at 30 cm × 12 cm spacing was statistically similar with manual transplanting at 20 cm × 15 cm and 30 cm × 12 cm, but the net returns and benefit: cost ratio of mechanically transplanted 3-weeks-old seedlings at 30 cm × 12 cm spacing ( 77.58 × 103/ha and 3.61) were significantly higher than manual transplanting at 20 cm × 15 cm ( 71.50 × 103/ha and 2.87) and 30 cm × 12 cm ( 72.27 × 103/ha and 2.90) spacing, respectively. Top Keywords Basmati rice, Mechanical transplanting, Net returns, Planting density, Seedling age. Top |