Energy consumption, economics, yield and quality of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in different crop establishment methods

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in clay loam soils of Jagtial, Telangana State during rainy season of 2015 to study the performance of rice under different establishment methods. The experiment was laid down in randomized block design with three replications. Eleven treatments were taken viz. dry and wet seeding with drum seeder at three row spacing i.e, 20, 25 and 30 cm, broadcasting of dry and sprouted seed in puddled soil, conventional  transplanting, SRI and MSRI methods. The yield attributes viz. panicles m^-2, spikelets panicle^-1 and per cent filled grains were found to be high in MSRI method with less chaffyness of grains. Highest grain yield was obtained with MSRI method (6848 kg ha^-1) followed by SRI method (6425 kg ha^-1) which was 31.5 and 23.4% higher than the conventional transplanting method, respectively. Drum seeding at 30 cm spacing with wet seed (pregerminated) and dry seed registered an increase of 22.1 and 17.8% in yield over conventional transplanting method, respectively.Rice crop matured 10-15 days earlier in drum seeding and 5-6 days in SRI and MSRI methods compared to conventional transplanting. The productivity day^-1 was found to be maximumin drum seeding with pregerminated seed at 30 cm row spacing closely followed by MSRI and SRI methods and found to be superior to transplanting method. The labour requirement in transplanting was the highest and MSRI method registered the least followed by drum seeding. The energy consumption was less in drum seeding followed by SRI method compared to MSRI and broadcasting method. MSRI method fetched highest gross returns ( 169957 ha^-1), net returns ( 118657 ha^-1) and B:C ratio (2.3).