Tiller Dynamics and Dry Matter Production of Transplanted Rice as Affected by Plant Spacing and Number of Seedling per Hill

The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during August, 2008 to January 2009 to find out the optimum plant spacing and number of seedling per hill in relation to tillering and dry matter accumulation of transplanted rice plant. The experiment was carried out with three plant spacings (S =15 cm × 20 cm, S = 20 cm × 20 cm and S = 25 cm × 20 cm) and 1 2 3 four different seedling numbers (H = 1 seedling hill , H = 2 seedlings hill , H = 3 seedlings hill and 1 2 3 1 1 1 H = 4 seedlings hill ). The rice variety used in this experiment was BRRI dhan46 which is late variety for aman 4 1 season. The results revealed that both the plant spicing and no. of seedlings hill showed a significant effect 1 on the tillering and dry matter yield of transplanted rice. At initial stages the treatments did not show any significant effect. At all the growth stages wider row spacings (25 cm × 20 cm) and higher no. of seedlings per hill (3 and 4) showed maximum tillering. Closer plant spacing reduced the number of effective tillers and increases the tiller mortality. Wider spacing coupled with higher no. of seedlings hill (4) accumulated maximum 1 amount of dry matter. But at all the cases transplanting more than 2 seedlings in a hill did not show significantly higher results. Productivity of tillers as well as dry matter yield was lower with closer spacing and transplanting single seedlings hill . 1