Growth, development and nitrogen uptake efficiency of some sali rice genotypes under delayed dates of sowing

Sali rice which is the major rice crop of Assam faces recurrent floods co-inciding with different phonological stages, especially the seedling stage. Owing to the damage caused to the seedlings, the transplanting also gets delayed. Delayed transplanting results in poor grain yield due to poor biomass accumulation as influenced by prevailing photoperiodic and thermal regimes during that period of the year. From this angle, selection of suitable genotypes appears to be the viable option that can have better early vegetative growth by utilizing available resources and should possess considerable degree of thermo- and photo- insensitivity. Keeping in view the above points, a study was conducted during the sali seasons at the experimental plots of Instructional cum Research (ICR) farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat with already shortlisted seven sali rice genotypes namely, Satya, Luit, Monoharsali, Jaya, Bordhan, Basundhara and Srimanta under delayed dates of sowing using thirty days old seedlings for transplanting laid out in split plot design. Results revealed that as compared to timely sowing, delayed sowing resulted in progressively lower values of various physiological parameters. While comparison was made between timely sowing and the deferred dates of sowing lowest reduction in the values of grain yield were recorded in genotypes of Manoharsali and Srimanta (35.66% and 35.03% with a delay of transplanting by 35 days compared to the recommended date of sowing i.e., 15^th June). These two genotypes recorded better performance in terms of parameters like leaf area index, nitrogen accumulation in biomass and plant biomass etc. The better performing genotypes namely Srimanta and Monoharsali recorded higher values of nitrogen uptake efficiency.