Influence of Planting Method and Weeding on the Yield of Transplanted Aman Rice

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Agronomy field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka. The experiment consisted of two factors; Factor A: Planting method viz. Rice transplanter (P1) and Conventional method (P2) and Factor B: Weeding viz. No Weeding (W0), Weeding at 20 DAT (W1), Weeding at 35 DAT (W2), Weeding at 50 DAT (W3), Two Weedings at 20 DAT & 35 DAT (W4), Two Weedings at 20 DAT & 50 DAT (W5), Two Weedings at 35 DAT & 50 DAT (W6) and Three Weedings at 20 DAT, 35 DAT & 50 DAT (W7). The maximum number of filled grains panicle-1 and a minimum number of unfilled grains panicle-1 (170.82 and 27.83 respectively) were obtained from conventional method while the minimum number of filled grains panicle-1 and a maximum number of unfilled grains panicle-1 from rice transplanter (158.31 and 41.61 respectively). Higher yield (5.38 t ha-1) was obtained from the conventional method and lower yield (4.93 t ha-1) from rice transplanter but they did not vary significantly. Higher biological yield (12.92 t ha-1) was obtained from the conventional method and the lower from rice transplanter (10.86 t ha-1). In case of weeding, the highest grain yield was obtained from Three Weedings at 20 DAT, 35 DAT & 50 DAT (W7) (5.48 t ha-1) and lowest from No Weeding (W0) (4.13 t ha-1). In case of interaction between planting method and weeding, the highest grain yield obtained from P2W7 (5.82 t ha-1) and the lowest from P1W0 (3.57 t ha-1). As the conventional transplanting incurs more labor, using rice transplanter and weeding either at 25 DAT or at 35 DAT might be suggested.