Effect of Pre-Planting Hardening of Seedlings on Growth, Dry Matter Accumulation and Tillering of Inbreed and Hybrid Rice

The experiment was conducted to investigate the pre-planting hardening of seedling on the growth, dry matter accumulation and tillering of inbreed and hybrid rice.

The experiment was carried out with three varieties i.e. BRRI dhan53, BRRI hybriddhan4, and Pajam and five seedling hardening treatments viz. direct transplanting (T1), storage in shade condition for 48 h (T2), storage in open field condition for 48 h (T3), storage in water condition for three days (T4) and storage in cool air condition for 24 hours (T5). This experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (factorial) with three replications.

Results revealed that among the varieties BRRI hybriddhan provided maximum number of leaves, tillers, and accumulated highest amount of dry matter. On the other hand, Pajam exhibited the tallest plants at earlier growth stages. Among the hardening methods open field storage showed the best result.

Seedling hardening provides the rice seedlings better adaptability during its entire growth period and gives better yield.