LOWLAND RICE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE DURING GROWTH CYCLE

Rice is a staple food for more than 50% of the world's population and the majority of the global rice is produced from a lowland ecosystem. A greenhouse experiment was conducted with the objective to study lowland rice (cv. ‘BRSGO Guara’) growth, development, and nutrient uptake patterns during growth cycle. Growth observations and plant analysis were performed at initiation of tillering (IT), active tillering (AT), panicle initiation (PI), booting (B), flowering (F) and physiological maturity (PM). Plant height, number of leaves per culm, number of tillers per plant and maximum root length and root dry weight increased in a quadratic fashion with increasing plant age. Similarly, shoot dry weight increased linearly during growth cycle of the cultivar ‘BRSGO Guara’. Concentration and accumulation of most of the macronutrients and micronutrients responded with a quadratic trend with the advancement of plant age. Plant growth parameters were significantly associated with shoot dry weight plus grain yield. Similarly, nutrient accumulation had a significant correlation with shoot dry weight plus grain yield, which indicated the importance of these nutrients in the lowland rice production.