Abstract

Author:
Sadikshya Dawadi, Shiva Chandra Dhakal, Anish Paudel

Doi: 10.26480/taec.02.2023.49.57

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

A field experiment was conducted in Chebetar, Gorkha, Nepal from February 2021 to July 2021 in two factorial RCBD with three replications to elucidate the response of different fertilizer management practices on the growth and yield of spring rice varieties. The first factor used in the experiment was spring rice varieties (Hardinath-1, Hardinath-3 and Chaite-5). The second factor was different fertilizer management practices, i.e., Government recommended dose (120:40:40 kg NPK ha-1), Farmers’ practice (62.4:18.4:0 kg NPK ha-1), Nutrient Expert (NE) software dose (109:28:46 kg NPK ha-1) and 125% of government recommendations (150:50:50 kg NPK ha-1). Traits like plant height, number of tillers per square meter, number of effective tillers per square meter, panicle length, grains per panicle, thousand grain weight, grain yield, straw yield, and harvest index were observed. Hardinath-1 outperformed other varieties in effective tillers per square meter, number of grains per panicle, grain yield, and harvest index. Hardinath-3 had higher plant height, thousand-grain weight, and straw yield, while Chaite-5 had higher panicle length. Regarding fertilizer levels, plant height and number of grains per panicle were higher for NE software dose, whereas effective tiller per square meter, thousand-grain weight and grain yield were higher for 125% of Government recommendations. From economic analysis, Gross return, Net return, and B/C ratio were obtained higher in Hardinath-1 and 125% of the Government recommended dose. Thus, Hardinath-1 along with 125% of Government recommended dose was found beneficial in the context of Chebetar, Gorkha, Nepal.