Cultivation method and weed management practices in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice is a principal source of food for more than half of the world population. The only way to meet the future food requirements is to increase the productivity per unit area by utilizing improved production technology such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR). Weed management is the foremost component in rice, 15 to 90% of crop losses in India occurs depending upon the various establishment methods. An experiment was carried out in the agricultural farm, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal, under sub-humid, semi arid region of West Bengal during kharif session of 2014 and 2015 for studying the effect of different cultivation method and weed management practices on growth and productivity of rice under lateritic belt of West Bengal. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three main plot treatment and five sub plot treatments with three replications. Sowing methods used for the experiment were M1: DSR, M2: SRI and M3: Conventional method of rice cultivation and sub plots treatments were application of S1-Azimsulfuron @35 g a.i per ha at 20 DAS/DAT, S2-Bensulfuron Methyle+Pretilachlor@70g +700 g a.i. per ha at 2 DAS/DAT, S3: two hand weeding at 30 DAT & 45 DAT, S4: Cono-weeder at 30 DAT and variety of rice used for transplanting was Naveen. Result revealed that the growth characters and yield attributes of rice in all the growth stages in both the years were recorded highest in SRI method followed by DSR method and conventional method and among the weed control methods the highest values were seen in case of application azimsulfuron @35 g a.i. per ha, followed by bensulfuron methyl + pretilachlor @70g +700 g a.i. per ha and then conoweeder followed by hand weeding. The treatment combination SRI with use of azimsulfuron @35 g a.i. per ha recorded significantly highest values of growth characters and yield attributes in respect with other treatment combination.