EFFECT OF WEED MANAGEMENT AND SULPHUR APPLICATION ON THE YIELD AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES OF BORO RICE

Abstract

Weed is one of the most harmful enemy of rice that reduces yield and sulphur is used to ensure higher yield of rice with binding of essential nutrient. The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Research Field of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur (HSTU) during the boro season from December, 2018 to June, 2019 to evaluate the effect of weed management and sulphur on the yield and yield attributes of boro rice. The research work was set up in randomized complete block design (RCBD) where weeding treatment and methods of sulphur application were allocated in main plot. The experiment comprise the two factors where weed control measurement consisting of W1= No weeding, W2= Pre-emergence herbicide + 1HW at 40 DAT, W3= Post-emergence herbicide + 1HW at 40 DAT and W4= Two hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAT and another factor comprised of three doses of sulphur application including S1= 25 kg ha-1, S2= 50 kg ha-1 and S3= 75 kg ha-1 gypsum. In case of boro rice, the morpho-physiological characteristics, yield and yield contributing characters of rice were significantly influenced by weeding regime and method of sulphur application. During the growth period of rice, the plant height, number of tillers hill-1 produced their highest values at all days after transplanting (30, 60 and 90 DAT) in W2= Pre-emergence herbicide + 1HW at 40 DAT while their corresponding lowest values were found in no weeding (W1). In case of growth parameters, the highest value was found at all days after transplanting at S2= 50 kg ha-1 of gypsum whereas lowest values were found in S1= 25 kg ha-1 of gypsum. In case of yield contributing characters, the highest grain yield (6.52 t ha-1) was obtained from W2= Pre-emergence herbicide + 1HW at 40 DAT and the lowest (3.90 t ha-1) value was recorded from W1= No weeding treatment. The interaction of weeding regime and sulphur management showed that the Pre-emergence herbicide + 1HW at 40 DAT (W2) with 50 kg ha-1 of gypsum produced the highest grain yield (6.73 t ha-1). The maximum grain yield (5.70 t ha-1) was produced by the treatment of S2 with the recommended dose of 50 kg ha-1 gypsum with the resultant effect of highest number of effective tillers hill-1 and grains panicle-1 in this treatment whereas the lowest grain yield was found in the S1 treatment (5.41 t ha-1). From the experimental result, it is suggested that BRRI dhan29 may be grown economically with the application of Preemergence herbicide + 1HW at 40 DAT (W2) combined with 50 kg ha-1 of gypsum.