Effect of various establishment methods on the growth and yield of rice

Experiments were conducted during the kuruvai seasons of 1995 and 1996 to study the effect of various establishment methods in rice on the growth and yield. Three rice varieties (ADT 36, ASD 18 and ADT 42) were evaluated with seedling broadcast method in comparison with the farmer's random and line planting methods. The results revealed that by broadcasting the seedling, there was not much reduction in the yield of rice and it was comparable with that of line planting. The labour consumption in seedling broadcast method (160 man hours) was only 1/3 of line planting. This method also helped to cover larger area within short time. Among the test varieties, ADT 42 and ADT 36 performed better.