Evaluation of Drought Tolerant Rice Varieties under Various Methods of Crop Establishment under Rainfed Condition of Bihar

A field experiment was conducted at KrishiVigyan Kendra, Aurangabad and at farmers’ field during rainy seasons of 2014 and 2015, to evaluate drought tolerant rice varieties under various methods of crop establishment under rainfed drought-prone condition of Bihar. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with 3 methods of establishment i.e. direct seeded rice (DSR), unpuddled transplanted rice (UPTR) and transplanted rice (TPR) with three varieties viz., Sahbhagiedhan, Sushke Samrat and Abhishek in a total of nine replications including four at KVK, Aurangabad and five at farmers’ field during both the years. The direct seeding of rice (DSR) produced significantly higher plant height, number of tillers/m2, panicles/m2, grains/panicle, filled grains/panicle and 1000-grain weight as compared to TPR and UPTR. Direct seed produced 7.8 and 13.94 per cent more yield in 2014 and 4.64 and 8.52 per cent more in 2015 over unpuddled and puddled transplanted rice, respectively. Net return and benefit-cost ratio were also significantly higher in direct seeded rice than puddled and unpuddled transplanting of rice. Amongst the varieties of rice, SushkSamrat produced significantly higher yield attributes viz., tillers/m2, panicles/m2, grains/panicle, filled grains/panicle and 1000-grain weight, and subsequently produced grain yield higher by 10.29 and 9.94 per cent in 2014 and by 4.48 and 7.80 per cent in 2015 over Sahbhagiedhan and Abhishek. The net return and benefit-cost ratio were also recorded significantly higher with SushkSamrat than Sahbhagiedhan and Abhishek.