Yadava, M.S.Kumari, Puja2022-05-122022-05-122021https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810184617EFFECT OF DATE OF SOWING, AGE OF SEEDLING AND METHOD OF TRANSPLANTING ON PRODUCTIVITY OF DIFFERENT RICE VARIETIESRice (Oryza sativa L.) called as “Global Grain” because it is important crop for 117 countries of the world. Among rice growing countries in the world, India has the largest area under rice crop and ranks second in production next to China. India has an area of over 43.95 million hectare under rice with production of 6.3 million tones and yield 224 kg/ha of rice in 2013-14. Often the peak labour demand coincides with release of water canals leading to labour shortage. Transplanting alone costs about 15%of total rice production causes substantial loss in yield. The traditional method of transplanting is labour intensive, hazardous with low per acre plantation and time as well as cost consuming. Further, steady drift of agricultural labour to industrial to industrial sector is adding more to the woes of the rice farmer. Because of drudgery and notion that the farm operations are below the dignity, labour availability, in general, has decreased considerably for farm operations. Farm mechanization in rice aims not only at reducing labour inputs, human drudgery but also at improving farm productivity. Keeping these points in view an experiment on “Effect of date of sowing, age of seedling and method of transplanting on productivity of different rice varieties.” was conducted at Rice Research Farm of Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, during Kharif -2019 with the objectives to find out the effect of date of sowing, age of seedlings and method of transplanting on different rice varieties The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice with variety IR64 drt1 and Naveen. The treatments comprised of two different rice establishment methods viz., mechanized transplanting, manual transplanting with 15 and 21-days old seedling with normal and delayed date of sowing. The soil was clay loam in texture and slightly acidic (6.3) in reaction, medium in organic carbon (4.1 g/kg) and available nitrogen (250. 50 kg/ha), phosphorous (21.02kg/ha) and potassium (178.12 kg/ha). Results revealed that growth parameters i.e. total tillers/m2 at maturity and dry matter accumulation at maturity was maximum in mechanical transplanting with 15 days old seedlings with normal date of sowing of variety IR64 drt1 (336.7 and 1197.05 g/m2 respectively). The leaf area index (4.26) and plant height (113.7 cm) was also maximum in mechanical transplanting with 15 days old aged seedling with normal date of sowing of variety IR64 drt1 but was at par with manual transplanting which was (4.21), (111.70 cm) of variety IR64 drt1. Yield attributing characters i.e. effective tillers (panicles)/m2 (320.7), number of filled grains/panicle (117.5 g) and panicle weight (3.16 g) was also recorded maximum in mechanical transplanting with normal date of sowing of 15 days age seedling of variety IR64 drt 1 and was significantly at par with manual transplanting. Grain yield and straw yield also followed similar trend as yield attributing characters. Mechanical transplanting recorded highest grain yield (47.23 q/ha) and straw yield (75.05 q/ha). The nutrient uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium were recorded maximum in mechanized transplanting of 15 days aged seedling with normal date of sowing in variety IR64 drt 1. Among the different treatments mechanized transplanting with 15 days old seedling with normal date of sowing of variety IR64drt 1 which was significantly better than rest of the treatments. The BC ratio was also maximum for mechanized transplanting of 15 days old seedling with normal date of sowing of variety IR64 drt 1. The higher net return (₹/ha 60896) and BC ratio (2.44) was recorded the best. On the basis of one year of experiment, it can be concluded that mechanical transplanting of 15 days old seedlings in normal date of sowing (16th July) is proved to be the best in place of manual transplanting in peak period of rice cultivation.EnglishThesis