Effect of Different Micronutrients on Growth and Yield of Rice

Aims: To determine the effect of different micronutrients including zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and boron (B) on growth and yield of rice (BRRI dhan29).

Study Design: The study was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was conducted at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the boro season of 2014-2015.

Methodology: There were altogether five treatment combinations viz. T1: Control (NPKS), T2: NPKS+Zn, T3: NPKS+Zn+Cu, T4: NPKS+Zn+Cu+Mn and T5: NPKS+Zn+Cu+Mn+B. The total number of unit plots was 15 and the size of unit plot was 5 m × 3 m. The doses of micronutrients were 1 kg Zn ha-1, 2 kg Cu ha-1, 3 kg Mn ha-1and 1 kg B ha-1.

Results: The grain and straw yield and the yield contributing characters like plant height, panicle length, number of effective tillers hill-1, grains panicle-1 and dry matter yield were significantly influenced by different treatments. The treatment T3 produced the tallest plant (44.67 cm, 61.00 cm, 72.07 cm and 92.13 cm at 30, 45, 60 DAT and at harvest respectively), highest number of tillers (10.80, 20.90, 21.67 and 18.40 at 30, 45, 60 DAT and at harvest respectively) and dry matter yield (2.04 g, 3.70 g, 8.16 g and 8.44 g at 30, 45, 60 DAT and at harvest respectively) over the other treatments. The highest panicle length (25.00 cm), number of filled grains per panicle (105.50), grains per panicle (128.50) and thousand grain weight (22.10 g) were also observed in treatment T3. The lowest values of all the parameters were obtained from control (T1). Grain yield (6.13 t ha-1) and straw yield (7.23 t ha-1) of boro rice were also highest due to treatment T3followed by T4, T2 and T5. Based on the overall results, treatment T3 was found to be the best combination of micronutrients along with NPK for obtaining maximum yield and quality of boro rice.

Conclusion: Application of Zn and Cu may be recommended for better performance of rice.