Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

The study was conducted at Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi during the years 2009–2013 for understanding the effect of weather variables on the yield of three direct seeded upland rainfed rice varieties viz., Vandana, BVD-109 and BVD-111 in Jharkhand. Correlation and regression methods were used to estimate the impacts of weather on rice yield. Study indicated that temperature, rainfall and sunshine hours have significant effect on the rice yield. Average minimum temperature during sowing to vegetative stage in cv. Vandana and during flowering in BVD-109 and BVD-111 showed significant negative relationship with yield. Rainfall during vegetative and grain filling stage are significantly and positively related with grain yield in all the three rice varieties. The effect of sunshine hours on grain yield of rice was comparatively higher at milk stage than the other phenological stages in all three varieties. However, the effect of sunshine hours on yield is significant during the milk stage in Vandana and BVD-111 only. Multiple regressions using critical weather parameters in critical stages of the three varieties could explain the variability in yield of Vandana, BVD-109 and BVD-111 by 92, 74 and 91 percent, respectively.