Evaluating the Growth and Yield Performances of Selected Rice (<em>Oryza sativa</em> L.) Varieties Grown in Organic Fertilizer

Abstract

Organic rice cultivation has been receiving a lot of attention in Sri Lanka. Hence, this evaluated the growth and yield performances of 20 rice varieties including four traditional and 16 improved varieties under organic fertilization. The results indicated the significant differences for most of the tested parameters including plant height, flag leaf length and width, root length, tillers and panicle characters and dry weights between rice varieties. The traditional rice variety Madathawalu performed well in terms of plant height, panicle and above ground biomass traits compared to the improved varieties. The highest flag leaf length (42.6cm) was recorded in Madathawalu and the number of leaves per plant was in Bg360 (33.44) followed by Pokkari (28.55). However, tillering characteristics were superior in improved varieties (Bg360, Ld365 and Bg357). The highest root length was obtained in Sulai (15.87cm), while the lowest was in Bg372 (9.53cm). Bg369 had the highest 100 grain weight (3.29g) followed by Pokkari (2.95g), Suduheenaty (2.95g) and Bg 94-1 (2.9g), while the lowest was recorded in Ld365 (1.58g). Overall, the highest total panicle dry weight was observed in Madathawalu (24.29g) followed by Aeron 9-3 (22.7g) and Bg360 (20.16g) suggesting that these three rice varieties can be cultivated with the application of organic fertilize