Response of different popular and promising rice genotypes to system= of rice intensification as against the existing method of transplanting

Response of different popular = and promising rice genotypes to system of rice intensification as against the existing method of transplanting

A.K.Sarawgi= ,= R.Verma and A.P.Singh

Department of Plant Breeding and Agronomy, I= GAU, Raipur

Irrigated rice accounts for 75 % of the overall rice production in Asia, and average yield must rise from 4.9 t ha^-1 = in 1990 to 8.0 t ha^-1 by the year 2025 to meet increased dem= and from population growth. Similarly, present level of average rice yields in = India a= nd our Chhattisgarh state under irrigated transplanted environments needs to be raised substantially in near future

There is still a large yield gap between the present average rice yield and the y= ield potential of modern rice varieties in irrigated lowlands of country as well= as Chhattisgarh in particular. Therefore, the challenge = is to reduce this gap and to explore the limits of environmentally and economical= ly sustainable rice production from 20 % of irrigated rice lands in Chhattisgarh by identifying suitable or appropriate r= ice genotypes separately for existing method of transplanting and system of rice intensification (SRI) method.

With this view, response of 42 rice genotypes ranging from 110 to 145 days matur= ity period was compared under existing transplanting and SRI method of rice cultivation under irrigated conditions during Kharif 2006. Out of 42 genotypes, 14 were popular and 28 were promising.

Based on two yield attributing characters i.e. effective tillers and panicle leng= th, it was observed that most of the genotypes responded slightly better to SRI method than the existing transplanting method. However, out of 14 popular genotypes, only two i.e. Indira Sugandhit and IR-64 produced remarkably higher number of effective tillers up to 33 a= nd 31.3% respectively as compared to other popular cultivars. Whereas, 4 promi= sing genotypes out of 28, were found to be superior over others and produced hig= her number of tillers by 29 to 48= .6 % under IRH-5 (Hybrid), MR-220, R 1033-2559-1-1 and R 1207-257-5-1 respective= ly. Similarly, panicle length was found remarkably higher by 6.4% under IR-64 a= mong the popular group and by 6 to 8.4% under R 1218-509-2-452 and R 1249-1196-2= -1 respectively amongst the promising group of genotypes. Superiority of these= two yield-attributing characters under some of the popular and promising genoty= pes indicates out standing yields potential also.

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