Evaluation of Crop Establishments and Split Application of N and K on Growth, Yield Attributes, Yield and Economics of Hybrid Rice CoRH2

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of crop density, establishment methods and split application of N and K on growth and yield of hybrid rice CoRH2 during late Pishanam season (November 2001-April 2002) at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam in Tambaraparani command area. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with seven treatments replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of two establishment methods, two plant densities and three methods of split application of N and K. The results revealed significant increase in growth attributes of hybrid rice CoRH2 in seedling broadcasting with 40 hills m-2 viz., taller plants, higher DMP, more number of tiller hill-1 and higher LAI, CGR and yield parameters viz., productive tillers m-1, panicle length, panicle weight, thousand grain weight, number of filled grains panicle-1 and registered higher grain and straw yield of 7206 and 8870 kg ha-1, respectively. With regard to split application of N and K, five splits of N and four splits of K exhibited significantly increased values of growth and yield components and recorded significantly superior grain yield of 6967 kg ha-1.The treatment combination of seedling broadcasting of 40 hills m-2 with five splits of N and four splits of K application registered significantly higher growth and yield parameters, which in turn exhibited higher rice grain yield of 7316 kg ha-1 and maximum net return of Rs. 46,170 ha-1 and the highest B:C ratio of 4.08. Minimum number of man days was utilized with seedling broadcasting of 50 hills m-2 with three splits of N and two splits of K. Energy use was significantly higher under seedling broadcasting with 40 hills m-2 and three splits of N and two splits of K.