Performance of Different Planting Geometry and Seedling Variation on Tiller Production and Yield of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Field experiments were carried out at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India during samba (August-December) season of 2012 and 2013 to study the effect of crop geometry, age and number of seedlings on growth and yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.). The experiment consisted of three main-plot treatments viz., M₁ - 25 x 25 cm, M₂ -25 x 20 cm and M₃ -25 x 15 cm and six sub-plot treatments, S₁ - 14 Day Old Seedlings (DOS) + 1 seedling hill⁻¹, S₂ -14 DOS + 2 seedlings hill⁻¹, S₃ -14 DOS + 3 seedlings hill⁻¹, S₄ -21 DOS + 1 seedling hill⁻¹, S₅ -21 DOS + 2 seedlings hill⁻¹ and S₆ - 21 DOS + 3 seedlings hill⁻¹ and replicated thrice in a split plot design. The highest number of tillers and productive tillers m⁻² were recorded under M₃ and S₁ treatments in main and sub plots, respectively during both the years. The combination of M₁S₁ recorded higher grain yields (7191 and 7414 kg ha⁻¹) during 2012 and 2013, respectively and it was statistically comparable with M₂S₁, M₂S₅ and M₃S₅.