Comparative Performance of Transplanted Aman Rice Varieties under Raised Bed and Conventional Cultivation Methods in Bangladesh

Abstract

Rice, a staple crop vital to nutrition and livelihoods of billions, must consistently achieve high yield to meet global food demands. The rice cultivation methods have a big impact on overall yield, productivity and water usage efficiency. This study compared the yield performance of four Transplanted Aman (T. Aman) rice varieties: BRRI dhan49, BRRI dhan52, BR11, and Binadhan-7, under raised bed and conventional method to determine the best genotype × planting method combinations for increased productivity. We conducted our study at Bangladesh Agricultural University using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The result of the experiment figured out that, for T. Aman rice, varieties and planting methods interacted significantly. BRRI dhan49 consistently performed better than other varieties, especially when grown in raised beds. It had the best harvest index (45.94%), biological yield (11.79 t/ha), and grain yield (5.42 t/ha). In comparison to traditional planting, raised bed planting increased effective tiller number (+8.3%), panicle length (+4.8%), grains per panicle (+2.7%), and decreased sterile spikelets (−19%). Among the varieties, Binadhan-7 exhibited the weakest performance in conventional method. Features including effective tillers, grains per panicle, and 1000-grain weight were shown to have strong positive associations with grain yield, underscoring their significance as selection criteria. The findings of this study indicate that growing BRRI dhan49 using the raised bed method significantly increases the yield of T. Aman rice, suggesting that this technique may be a better agronomic approach than traditional techniques for raising rice production. For increasing food security and land productivity in rice-growing countries, these findings can help farmers, agricultural planners, and governments to adopt more effective production practices.