Effect of Planting Time and Nitrogen Doses on Growth, Phenology and Yield of Basmati Rice (Oryza sativa L.) under Agro-Climatic Conditions of Haryana, India

A field experiment on rice was conducted at RRS, Kaul (Kaithal) of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during Kharif season of 2022 to find out optimum dose of nitrogen in rice under late planted condition for getting higher yield. The transplantation get delayed because of shortage of labour and water during the brief transplanting period, which may affect the crop yield adversely under late planting. Soil of experimental field was sandy clay loam texture, alkaline in reaction (7.81), low in organic carbon (0.39%), available nitrogen (130 kg ha-1) and medium in available phosphorous (24 kg ha-1) and high in available potash (480 kg ha-1). The experiment included two transplanting dates (P1: First week of July and P2: Fourth week of July), five levels of N application (N1:0, N2:30, N3:60, N4:90, N5:120 kg N ha-1) laid out in factorial randomised block design. The growth parameters viz. plant height (cm), number of tillers m-2 and dry matter accumulation (g) were reduced significantly under late planting (P2). The yield (grain and straw) of the rice crop increased with each successive increase in N level, although the response was only significant up to 90 kg ha-1. The interaction between planting time and N levels was found to be significant in terms of grain yield, revealing that dose of 90 kg ha-1 was sufficient in timely transplanted rice crops (1st week of July), whereas late transplanted crops (4th week of July) may require a higher dose of N (120 kg ha-1) to get higher yield. However, the highest yield was obtained when the crop was timely transplanted (1st week of July) and supplied 90 kg of N ha-1.