Agro-management for high yield in hybrid rice seed production

摘要

The large-scale adoption of hybrids in India is constrained by the inadequate availability of good-quality seeds and their higher cost. Improved agro-management could help boost hybrid seed yield beyond the current achievable yield of 2.0 t ha–1. As a function of panicles m–2, seeds panicle–1, and grain weight, yield can be manipulated by management. Replicated experiments using a randomized factorial block design were conducted during four main crop seasons at the experiment station of GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, on hybrids PSD 1 and PSD 3.Standard cultural and seed production practices to promote outcrossing were adopted. Three factors of nursery management, seed rate, depth of seeding,and nitrogen application method, were combined with two factors of main-field treatments (nitrogen application method and seedling number hill–1 at transplanting)to determine the best combination. Further refinement with respect to higher seed rate and higher nitrogen application enhanced yield up to 4.33 t ha–1 in PSD 3 (A/R) and 7.8 t ha–1 for its restorer. The best agro-technique was 15 g m–2 seed rate, seeded at 5-cm depth, and 150 kg ha–1 of N in a split application that produced vigorous (taller), robust, multitiller seedlings in the seedbed and, when transplanted, two seedlings hill–1 with the application of 210 kg N in splits in the seed production plot. Higher yield was mainly attributed to 2.18 times higher panicles m–2 than the control. Implications of the findings are discussed.