GROWTH AND YIELD OF AROMATIC RICE AS INFLUENCED BY EXOGENOUS APPLICATION OF GAMMA AMINOBUTYRIC ACID (GABA)

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple food for over two billion people in Asia. Aromatic rice has become very popular due to its special appeal for aroma and grain quality. GABA is recognized as a non-protein amino acid that is involved in different physio biochemical processes in plants. A field experiment was carried out at Agronomy Research Field in Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur located at 25.56o N latitude and 88.5o E longitude at an altitude of 37 m above from the mean sea level during the period from July 2023 to December 2023 to study the influence of exogenous application of GABA on growth and yield contributing character of aromatic rice (Tulsimala). The experiment was laid out into Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Two factors were taken in this study viz. factor A: D1= Without GABA application, D2= 50 ppm of GABA, D3= 100 ppm of GABA and D4= 150 ppm of GABA; Factor B: T1= Application time of GABA at 30 DAT, T2= at 60 DAT and T3= at 90 DAT. Data were recorded on different growth and yield contributing parameters. Among the yield and yield contributing parameters namely effective tillers hill-1, filled grains panicle-1, grain yield, straw yield and biological yield were significantly varied with application of GABA. The highest number of effective tillers hill-1 (20.03), number of filled grains panicle-1 (231.00) were found in D3T2 treatment combination due to application of 100 ppm of GABA at 60 DAT. The highest grain yield (3.04 t ha-1), straw yield (5.45 t ha-1), biological yield (8.49 t ha-1) and harvest index (35.83%) were found in D3T2 (100 ppm of GABA+ Application time of GABA at 60 DAT). Besides, lowest grain yield (1.92 t ha-1) was found by D1T1 (Without GABA application+ at 30 DAT), lowest straw yield (4.85 t ha-1) was achieved from D1T2 treatment (Without GABA application+ At 60 DAT), lowest biological yield (6.83 t ha-1), and finally lowest harvest index (28.17 %) were achieved from D1T1 treatment (Without GABA application+ at 30 DAT). From these results it can be concluded that all of the important growth parameters and yield contributing characters were improved due to application of GABA 100 ppm resulting higher yield of Tulsimala variety of aromatic rice.