Growth and yield performance of hybrid rice varieties under varying zinc levels

Abstract

Zinc deficiency in soil is currently a widespread problem in Bangladesh that significantly reduces the yield of a variety of crops, including rice. Despite the fact that many farmers started applying zinc fertilizer, many are unaware of the right amount and application technique. For this reason, to determine the impact of variety and zinc treatment on the performance of hybrid rice, a field experiment was carried out between November 2019 and May 2020 at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University's experimental field in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207. The experiment consisted of two factors as variety (3 types) viz., V1 – BRRI hybrid dhan2, V2 – BRRI hybrid dhan3 and V3 – BRRI hybrid dhan5 and, Zinc management (4 levels) viz., Zn0 – 0 kg ha-1 (control), Zn1 – 2 kg ha-1, Zn2 – 4 kg ha-1 and Zn3 – 6 kg ha-1. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (Factorial) with three replications. Data on different growth and yield parameter of rice were recorded and significant variation was found for different treatments. Regarding varietal performance, the maximum panicle number hill-1 (17.10), panicle length (28.03 cm), grain number panicle-1 (109.45), 1000-grain weight (26.50 g), grain yield ha-1 (6.94 t), straw yield ha-1 (8.58 t), biological yield ha-1 (15.51 t) and harvest index (44.62%) were found from the variety BRRI hybrid dhan5. Considering Zn effect, the maximum panicle number hill-1 (16.33), panicle length (27.14 cm), grain number panicle-1 (108.11), 1000-grain weight (25.38 g), grain yield ha-1 (6.81 t), straw yield ha-1 (8.34 t), biological yield ha-1 (15.15 t) and harvest index (44.88%) were found from 6 kg Zn ha-1. In the case of treatment combination of variety and zinc, the maximum panicle number hill-1 (20.17), panicle length (29.45 cm), number of grains panicle-1 (117.74), 1000-seed weight (27.43 g), grain yield (7.80 t ha-1), straw yield (9.20 t ha-1), biological yield (17.00 t ha-1) and harvest index (45.78%) were found from BRRI hybrid dhan5 along with 6 kg Zn ha-1. Therefore, the hybrid rice variety BRRI hybrid dhan5 with a Zn application of 6 kg ha-1 yielded considerably more grain than the other treatment combinations under evaluation.