Effect of planting and nutrient management on the growth, yield and protein content of aromatic fine rice

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh from July to November 2015 to find out the effect of planting and nutrient management on the growth, yield and protein content of aromatic fine rice (cv. Binadhan-13). The experimental treatments comprised six planting arrangement viz. 25 cm × 20 cm, 25 cm × 15 cm, 25 cm × 10 cm, 20 cm × 20 cm, 20 cm × 15 cm, 20 cm × 10 cm and four nutrient management viz. recommended dose of inorganic fertilizer (RDF) N-P2O5-K2O-S-Zn at the rate of 75-42-75-17-2 kg ha-1 respectively; Cow dung @ 10 t ha-1, 25% less than RDF + Cow dung @ 5 t ha-1, 50% less than RDF + Cow dung @ 5 t ha-1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Different crop characters, yield contributing characters, yield and grain quality were significantly influenced by planting arrangement and nutrient management. In the crop growth stage, the maximum number of tillers hill-1 (19.03) was recorded from the 25 cm × 15 cm spacing fertilized with 25% less than RDF + cow dung @ 5 t ha-1 and the highest total dry matter production (62.70), crop growth rate (19.37) and chlorophyll content (35.77) of leaf were recorded from the 20 cm × 15 cm spacing fertilized with 25% less than RDF + cow dung @ 5 t ha-1. At harvest, the highest grain yield (3.66 t ha-1) and protein content (9.63%) were recorded from the 20 cm × 15 cm spacing fertilized with 25% less than RDF + cow dung @ 5 t ha-1. So, transplantation at 20 cm × 15 cm spacing and fertilization with 25% less than the recommended dose of inorganic fertilizer + cow dung @ 5 t ha-1 was found to be promising practice for the cultivation of aromatic fine rice (cv. Binadhan-13).