Bangladesh Agron. J. 2016, 19(2): 139-143 PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT OFPREMIUM QUALITY RICETHROUGH FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT IN THE HAOR AREAS M.A. Aziz and M.A. Kashem Department of Soil Science, Shylhet Agricultural University, Shylhet 3100, Bangladesh Corresponding Author: aziz soil @ yahoo.com Key words: Productivity, Premium quality rice, Fertilizer Management, Haor Areas Abstract The experiment was conducted at the farmers’ fields of two villages namely Bahadurpur and Noagaonat Sadar upazilla and Daskin Sunamganj, respectively under Dekhar haor of Sunamganj district during the period from November, 2015 to May 2016 to find out the effect of variety and fertilizer on the, yield and yield contributing characters of premium quality rice in haor area. Two varieties (BRRI dhan50 and BRRI dhan63) and three fertilizer treatments (Farmers’ practice, FRG and Soil test based fertilizers) were included in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in a Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three dispersed replications. Tillers hill-1 was significantly affected due to different varieties at 60, 75, 90 DAT (Days after Trasplnting) and at harvest but significantly varied due to different fertilizers application at 30 and 60 DAT interaction at 45 and 60 DAT. The maximum grain and straw yield of 3.86 and 5.67 t ha–1, respectively was produced from the BRRI dhan63. Though the grain yield was identical but lower yield in the STB and maximum in farmers’ practice due to higher fertilizer. practices. Introduction Rice grain is categorized into coarse, medium and fine with different colors based on physical properties. In Bangladesh, a number of fine rice and premium quality rice are grown by the farmers. Some of them have special characteristics for their aroma. Such common varieties / cultivars are Chinisagar, Basmati, Badshabhog, BRRI dhan34, BR5, Kalizira, Tulsimla, BRRI dhan37, BRRI dhan38, BRRI dhan50, Bina dhan12 and Bina dhan15. Fine rice is mainly used by the people in the preparation of palatable dishes and sold at a higher price in the market due to its special characters for aroma and acceptability. Bangladesh has already exported fine rice in different countries with small quantity but bright prospect for export of this fine rice to earn foreign exchange. The grain yield of fine rice is lower than that of coarse and medium rice. The reason for low yield is mainly associated with lack of improved varieties and judicious fertilizer management especially of organic fertilizer and inorganic fertilizer. Selection of a potential variety, planting in appropriate method and application of optimum amount of nutrient elements can play an important role to increase yield. However, fine rice is grown well under low levels of inputs. Most of the fine rice varieties are grown as T. aman season due to their photosensitivity character. Some premium quality rice like, BRRI dhan50, BRRI dhan63 are cultivated in Bangladesh during Boro season.. Due to high organic matter in haor, the quality of premium quality rice rice may be superior from other region. After receding of water, plant should be planted earlier so that they can avoid flash flood. Among the management practices, application of nitrogen fertilizer and variety are the important ones In this context the trial was conducted to find out suitable variety and optimum fertilizer for premium rice of haor areas. 140 Aziz et al. Materials and Methods The experiment was conducted at the farmers’ fields of two villages namely Bahadurpur and Noagaon at Sadar upazilla and Daskin at Sunamganjunder Dekhar haor of Sunamganj district during the period from November, 2015 to May 2016. Two varieties- V1= BRRI dhan50 and V2= BRRI dhan63 and three fertilizer treatments- F1= Farmers’ practice (180-42-42 kg/ha of urea-TSP-MoP), F2= Ferilizer Recommendatio Guide ’12 based on fertilizers dose (300-112-127-75-11 kg/ha of urea-TSP-MoP- CaS04-ZnS04) and F3= Soil test based fertilizers (265-175-134-35-4 kg/ha of urea-TSP- MoP-CaS04-ZnS04) were included in the experiment.The initial soil properties of the experimental sites are presented in Table 1. Soil texture, pH, organic matter, available P and S, Zn and exchangeable K, were determined following standard methods (Black, 1965; Jackson, 1962; Walkley and Black, 1935; Olsen et al., 1954 and Page et al., 1982). The experiment was laid out in a Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three dispersed replications. Seeds were sown in seedbed on 28 November 2015. Seedlings were transplanted on 4-5 January 2016 at 25 cm × 15 cm spacing. Urea was applied as top dressing in three equal splits at 15, 30 and 45 days after transplanting.. Two hand weddings were done where first weeding at 25 days after transplanting followed by second weeding after first weeding at 45 days. Standing water was maintained 2-3 cm in the field throughout the growing period. Five hills were tagged for counting the tillers and measuring the plant height. Harvesting was done on 21-22 April 2016. Ten hills were collected from each plot to record the yield contributing characters. The grain and straw yields were recorded. The data were analyzed and mean separation was done by DMRT. Table 1.Chemical characteristics of the initial soil of the experimental site Constituents Characteristics Soil pH 4.9 Organic matter(%) 1.7 Total Nitrogen (%) 0.11 Exchangeable K (milimol 100 g-1 soil) 0.15 Available P (µg g-1 soil) 1.00 Available S (µg g-1 soil) 27 Available Zn (µg g-1 soil) 0.3 Results and Discussion Plant height of BRRI dhan50 was significantly higher than BRRI dhan63 at 15 DAT (Table 2). Plant height was also varied significantly due to different fertilizer application at 45 DAT and at harvest and their interaction at 15 DAT. The maximum plant height was produced for application of STB fertilizer at 15 DAT (23.30 cm), 45 DAT (53.21 cm) and at harvest (88.50cm) while lower height from farmers dose. There was trend to increase height with advancement of date of transplanting upto 90 DAT and then slightly decrease at harvest. The number of tillers hill-1 of BRRI dhan50 was significantly higher than BRRI dhan63 at 60 DAT (15.91), 75 DAT (16.84), 90 DAT (16.65) and at harvest (15.57) (Table 3). Number of tillers hill-1 was significantly varied due to application of different fertilizer doses at 30 and 60 DAT. The highest number of tillers hill-1(15.90) was produced due to soil test based fertilizers (Table 3). Number of tillers hill-1 was significantly varied due to variety and fertilizer interaction at 45 and 60 141 Productivity Improvement of Premium Quality Rice through Fertilizer Management in The Haor Areas DAT. Number of effective tillers hill-1 and number of grains panicle-1 was not significant due to variety, different fertilizer doses and their interaction. Number of sterile spikelets panicle-1 of BRRI dhan63 was significantly higher than BRRI dhan50 but not significantly varied due to different fertilizer doses and its interaction. Tillers/hill increased with advancement of days and declined at harvest. Panicle length was varied significantly due to variety where BRRIdhan50 showed higher than BRRIdhan 63. The 1000- grains weight was not varied significantly due to variety and different fertilizer doses but significant variation was observed in interaction where BRRIdhan 50 with soil test based fertilizer showed higher grain weight. Grain and straw yield was not significantly influenced by varieties, fertilizer doses and in their interaction. Though insignificant but higher grain yield was obtained from BRRIdhan 50 with farmers fertilizer dose followed by soil test based fertilizer dose. It is interesting to note that STB fertilizer dose showed lower yield as well as FRG with much higher dose than farmers practices failed to show higher yield. Table 2. Effect of variety and fertilizers on plant height of premium quality rice at different days after transplanting Treatment Plant height (cm) 15 DAT 30 DAT 45 DAT 60 DAT 75 DAT 90 DAT At harvest Variety BRRIdhan50 22.83 33.66 51.01 69.78 78.53 88.46 85.96 BRRIdhan63 20.86 32.83 52.52 70.06 77.70 90.63 85.76 Level of significance ** NS NS NS NS NS NS Fertilizer level F1 21.10 33.50 50.03 69.90 76.95 86.25 81.20 F2 21.15 32.55 52.05 68.95 78.60 90.60 87.90 F3 23.30 33.70 53.21 70.93 78.80 91.80 88.50 Level of significance * NS * NS NS NS ** Variety x Fertilizer V1F1 23.40 35.30 49.90 68.10 75.40 85.10 82.40 V1F2 22.40 32.30 52.20 70.40 80.00 88.00 88.30 V1F3 22.70 33.40 50.93 70.86 80.20 92.30 87.20 V2F1 18.80 31.70 50.16 71.70 78.50 87.40 80.00 V2F2 19.90 32.80 51.90 67.50 77.20 93.20 87.50 V2F3 23.90 34.00 55.50 71.00 77.40 91.30 89.80 Level of significance ** NS NS NS NS NS NS ** = Significant at 1 % level of provability; * = Significant at 5 % level of provability, NS= Non-significant V1 = BRRI dhan50 V2 = BRRI dhan63 F1= Farmers’ practice (180-42-42 kgha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP) F2= Fertilizer Recommendation Guide (300-112-127-75-11 kgha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS04- ZnS04), F3= Soil test based (265-175-134-35-4 kgha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS04-ZnS04). Table 3. Effect of variety and fertilizers on the tiller production of modern boro fine rice at different days after transplanting Treatment Tillers hill-1(no.) 15 DAT 30 DAT 45 DAT 60 DAT 75 DAT 90 DAT At harvest 142 Aziz et al. Variety BRRIdhan50 3.03 6.10 12.13 15.91 16.84 16.65 15.57 BRRIdhan63 2.76 5.66 11.66 13.63 15.41 15.17 14.48 Level of significance NS NS NS ** * ** * Fertilizer F1 2.65 5.25 11.20 13.36 15.36 15.45 14.40 F2 2.95 6.65 12.35 15.05 16.50 16.20 14.95 F3 3.10 5.75 12.15 15.90 16.51 16.10 15.75 Level of significance NS * NS ** NS NS NS Variety x Fertilizer V1F1 2.40 5.10 11.40 13.80 16.10 16.40 15.00 V1F2 3.40 7.20 13.80 17.33 17.90 17.50 15.83 V1F3 3.30 6.00 11.20 16.60 16.53 16.06 15.90 V2F1 2.90 5.40 11.00 12.93 14.63 14.50 13.80 V2F2 2.50 6.10 10.90 12.76 15.10 14.90 14.06 V2F3 2.90 5.50 13.10 15.20 16.50 16.13 15.60 Level of significance NS NS ** ** NS NS NS ** = Significant at 1 % level of provability; * = Significant at 5 % level of provability, NS= Non-significant V1 = BRRI dhan50 V2 = BRRI dhan63 F1= Farmers’ practice (180-42-42 kgha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP) F2= Fertilizer Recommendation Guide (300-112-127-75-11 kgha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS04- ZnS04), F3= Soil test based (265-175-134-35-4 kgha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS04-ZnS04). Table 4. Effect of variety and fertilizers on the yield and yield contributing characters of modern boro fine rice Treatment Effective tillers hill- 1 (no.) Grains panicle-1 (no.) Sterile spikelets panicle-1 (no.) Panicle length (cm) 1000- grain weight (g) Grain yield (tha-1) Straw yield (t ha-1) Variety BRRIdhan50 14.65 108.70 10.16 21.34 19.87 3.25 5.58 BRRIdhan63 13.84 110.74 11.96 19.76 19.71 3.86 5.67 Level of significance NS NS * ** NS NS NS Fertilizer F1 13.71 105.61 11.10 20.75 19.28 3.64 5.43 F2 14.21 114.55 11.25 20.60 20.25 3.59 5.54 F3 14.81 109.00 10.85 20.31 19.85 3.44 5.91 Level of significance NS NS NS NS NS NS NS Variety x Fertilizer V1F1 14.20 104.10 9.30 21.03 17.73 3.15 4.95 V1F2 14.96 114.60 10.70 21.80 20.60 3.18 5.74 V1F3 14.80 107.40 10.50 21.20 21.30 3.42 6.06 V2F1 13.23 107.12 12.90 20.46 20.83 4.14 5.91 V2F2 13.46 114.50 11.80 19.40 19.90 4.00 5.34 V2F3 14.83 110.60 11.20 19.43 18.40 3.46 5.76 Level of significance NS NS NS NS * NS NS ** = Significant at 1 % level of provability; * = Significant at 5 % level of provability, NS= Non-significant V1 = BRRI dhan50 V2 = BRRI dhan63 F1= Farmers’ practice (180-42-42 kg ha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP) F2= Fertilizer Recommendation Guide (300-112-127-75-11 kg ha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS04- ZnS04), F3= Soil test based (265-175-134-35-4 kg ha -1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS04-ZnS04). Conclusion The result of the experiment revealed that the higher grain and straw yield of 3.86 and 5.67 t ha–1, respectively was produced from the BRRI dhan63. Soil test based fertilizer dose failed to show higher yield than farmer practice. Besides, FRG with high 143 Productivity Improvement of Premium Quality Rice through Fertilizer Management in The Haor Areas fertilizer dose did not increase yield in both the varieties. Though slightly higher grain yield was obtained from BRRIdhan 63 with farmers practice with the use of affordable fertilizer dose and as such farmers of haor areas are very much concerned about use of fertilizer dose (180-42-42 kg ha-1 of Urea-TSP-MoP ). Acknowledgement We are thankful acknowledge for the financial support rendered by Krisihi Gobesona Foundation under the project of Farm Productivity Improvement in the Haor Areas through Integrated Farming System Approach. References Black, C.A. 1965. Methods of soil analysis. Part I and II. Amer. Soc. Agron. Inc. Pub., Madison. USA. Jackson, M.L. 1962. Soil Chemical Analysis. Constable and Co. Ltd. London. Olsen S.R., C.V. Cole, F.S. Watanable and L.A. Dean. 1954. Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium carbonate U.S. Dept. Agr. (Circ.) pp.929. Page, A.L., R.H. Miller and D.R. Keeney. 1982. Methods of Soil Analysis Part 2. 2nd Ed. Am. Soc. Agron. Increased. Madison. Wisconsin, USA. Pradhan, S.B. 1992. Status of fertilizer use in developing countries of Asia and the Pasific Region. Proc. of Reg. FADINAP Seminar. Chiang Mai. Thailand. pp- 37-47. Walkley, A. and A.I. Black. 1935. An examination of the Degtijaref method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci., 37: 29-38. M.A. Aziz and M.A. Kashem Department of Soil Science, Shylhet Agricultural University, Shylhet 3100, Bangladesh Corresponding Author: aziz soil @ yahoo.com Key words: Productivity, Premium quality rice, Fertilizer Management, Haor Areas Abstract The experiment was conducted at the farmers’ fields of two villages namely Bahadurpur and Noagaonat Sadar upazilla and Daskin Sunamganj, respectively under Dekhar haor of Sunamganj district during the period from November, 2015 to May 2016 to find out... Introduction Materials and Methods Results and Discussion The result of the experiment revealed that the higher grain and straw yield of 3.86 and 5.67 t ha–1, respectively was produced from the BRRI dhan63. Soil test based fertilizer dose failed to show higher yield than farmer practice. Besides, FRG with hi... We are thankful acknowledge for the financial support rendered by Krisihi Gobesona Foundation under the project of Farm Productivity Improvement in the Haor Areas through Integrated Farming System Approach.