Evaluating climate-resilient rice varieties in eastern Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

A two-location field experiment was conducted across farmers’ fields in the Namsai district of Arunachal Pradesh to evaluate the productivity and complete economic performance of climate-resilient rice varieties. The experiment was laid-out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) and 10 replications. The selected sites were uniform in soil properties, texture, topography, and similar histories of fertilizer application. Four rice varieties Swarna Sub-1, Gitesh, Luit, farmers’ local variety Khampti Lahi were evaluated in two locations;Wagon 1 and Mengkeng Khampti. Standard agronomic practices were uniformly applied across all treatments and locations. Growth parameters (plant height, number of tillers/m², and effective tillers/ m²), yield attributes, and grain yield were recorded, while economic parameters such as cost of cultivation, gross return, net return, and benefit-cost ratio (B: C) were also calculated. Results indicated that the Swarna Sub-1 variety exhibited significantly superior growth characteristics, yield attributes, and grain yield (47.84 and 46.28 q/ha) compared to the local variety (Khampti Lahi) (32.25 and 30.25 q/ha) in Wagon 1 and Mengkeng Khampti locations, respectively. The Gitesh and Luit varieties also showed significantly higher grain yields (40.36 and 40.24 q/ha, and 33.8 and 35.91 q/ha, respectively) than the local variety, though slightly lower than Swarna Sub-1. Economic analysis revealed that Swarna Sub-1 achieved the highest gross return (106081 and 102297/ha), net return (70,421 and 71128 q/ha), and B:C ratio (2.97 and 3.29), followed by Gitesh and Luit, in both Wagon 1 and Mengkeng.