Influence of nitrogen levels and plant spacing on growth,productivity and quality of two inbred varieties and a hybrid of aromatic rice

A field investigation was conducted at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute's Research Farm during the kharif (wet) seasons of 2002 and 2003 in a split plot design with three replications, consisting of 27 treatments, namely, main plots: three varieties (PRH-10, Pusa Sugandh-3 and Pusa Basmati-1) and three plant spacings (20 × 10, 20 × 15 and 20 × 20 cm²) and sub-plots: three levels of nitrogen (0, 80 and 160 kg N ha^?1). The research results indicated that aromatic rice hybrid PRH-10 produced 33 and 6%, respectively, more grain yield than that of Pusa Sugandh-3 and Pusa Basmati-1. The appreciable higher grain yield of PRH-10 over Pusa Sugandh-3 and Pusa Basmati-1 was due to considerable improvement in most of the yield attributing characters. Application of 160 kg N ha^?1 recorded 23.7 and 26.1% more grain yield over no nitrogen application whereas it was 6.4 and 6.1% more over 80 kg N ha^?1, respectively, during first and second year of the experimentation. Wider plant spacing of 20 × 20 cm² and application of 160 kg N/ha recorded significantly higher hulling, milling and head rice recovery compared to closer spacing and zero nitrogen application.