EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT DOSES OF LIME (DOLOCHUN) ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF RICE

Abstract

A study was conducted at the central farm, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during January to May, 2017 to evaluate the effects of different doses of lime (dolochun) on the growth and yield of rice. There were seven treatments viz. T0: Control, T1: 0.5 t lime ha-1 , T2: 1.0 t lime ha-1 , T3: 1.5 t lime ha-1 , T4: 2.0 t lime ha-l , T5: 2.5 t lime ha-1 and T6: 3.0 t lime ha-l . Dolochun was used as the liming material. The experiment was conducted in the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Every plot received urea, TSP, MOP, gypsum and zinc sulphate (monohydrate) at the rate of 270, 130, 120, 60 and 8 kg ha l respectively. The application of different rates of lime to soil progressively affected the plant height (cm), number of tillers hill-l , panicle length (cm), number of grains panicle-1 , grain yield (t ha-1 ), straw yield (t ha-1 ) and biological yield (t ha-1 ). The treatment T2 produced the highest number of tillers hill-l (21.17), number of effective tillers hill-l (16.03), plant height (103.7 cm), panicle length (24.47 cm), number of grains panicle-1 (137.50), number of filled grains panicle-1 (127.1), 1000 - grain weight (32.00 g), grain yield (6.05 t ha-1 ), straw yield (6.27 tha-1 ), biological yield (12.32 t ha-1 ), while the lowest number of tillers hill-l (17.37), number of effective tillers hill-1 (10.33), plant height (89.28 cm), panicle length (19.38 cm), number of grains panicle-1 (107.6), number of filled grains panicle-1 (96.33), 1000 - grain weight (25.33 g), grain yield (4.147 t ha-1 ), straw yield (5.26 t ha-1 ) and biological yield (9.41 t ha-1 ) were recorded in T0. Treatment T2 is identical to T1 and T3 but superior to other treatments. There were positive correlation of the grain yield with panicle length, plant height and number of tillers hill-1 . The results show that liming was necessary for rice cultivation in Ranishankail Soil Series of Dinajpur. The application of 1.0 t lime ha-l appears to be optimum for desired soil pH for rice (>pH 6.0) that helped to increase the availability of nutrients to plants, improved different growth parameters of rice plant and ultimately increased the yield of rice.