Received: 21th March 2022; Accepted: 11th May 2022

Abstract

Due to scarcity of labour and declining underground water resources, there is a need to shift from the conventional transplanting method of rice to other methods which save on irrigation water and labour while maintaining similar productivity. Hence, studies to evaluate the comparative performances of different rice establishment methods under varied nutrition were conducted during Kharif 2017 and 2018 on Sandy Loam soil. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three crop establishment methods (Manual transplanting, Mechanical transplanting and Direct seeding) in main plots, and five mineral nutrition (NPK) treatments {T1-120:60:40- (Through chemical fertilizer), T2-120:60:40- (75 % N through chemical fertilizer + 25 % N through farmyard manure), T3-180:90:60 (Through chemical fertilizer), T4-150:0:0 (Through chemical fertilizer) and T5 – Control (No fertilizer)} in subplots replicated thrice. Direct seeding recorded the highest panicles/m2 but panicle weight was the highest under manual transplanting leading to similar grain and straw yields under all the establishment methods. Among mineral nutrition treatments, N: P: K 150:0:0 applied through chemical fertilizer recorded the highest grain and straw yields with respective increase of 56.4 and 59.0% than no fertilizer treatment (control), but former treatment was statistically similar to all other nutrition treatments. Interactive effects reveal statistical parity among all the establishment methods under different mineral nutrition treatments except control (no fertilizer), where manual transplanting treatment out yielded mechanical transplanting and direct seeding. Correlation studies revealed significant positive correlation of seed yield with plant height, panicle weight, filled grains, 1000 grain weight, SPAD and dry matter accumulation by crop, whereas, grain yield and unfilled grains were found to be negatively correlated.