Effect of Using Seaweed Extracts on Growth and Yield of Two Varieties of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

A field experiment was conducted at Mishkab Rice Research Station/ Agricultural Research Office- at Al-Najaf Governorate during the summer seasons of 2017 and 2018 to study the effect of adding Seaweed extract (Algaren) on growth and yield components of two varieties of Rice (Oryza sativa L.). The experiment was accomplished using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a split plot arrangement with three replicates. The study involved two varieties of Rice (Anbbar33 and Yassamen) as main treatments، while، sub plots comprised of Six treatment add of seaweed extract (Algaren) and they were symbolized (T0، T1، T2، T3، T4 and T5). Results show that variety Yassamen significantly superposed to Anbbar33 variety in all growth and yield components. Also the using Seaweed extract(Algaren) T5 treatment (Seed immersion in 0.2-0.3% solution before planting + first spray at stage 2-4 leaves + second spray at the branching stage) significantly gave the best results of (Crop Growth Rate (CGR) (g.m-2.day-1) ، Relative Growth Rate (RGR) (gm.gm-1. Day-1) ، height of plant (cm)، Panicle Length (cm)، Biological yield (tons. ha-1) ، grain yield (tons. ha-1) ، harvest index (%) compared to T0 (non-adding plant) which gave the lowest values. The interaction between varieties & Seaweed extract showed that the Yassamen cultivar with T5 treatment significantly outperformed in all growth and yield components compared to cultivar Anbbar33 with treatment T0 (non-addition of seaweed extract) which gave the lowest values.