Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during late Samba season (2017-18) to study the effect of varieties and methods of planting on productivity of organic rice. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. Four varieties (V1 - Rice CO-52, V2 - Jeeraga samba, V3 - Kitchili samba and V4 - Improved white ponni) were grown in main plot and three planting methods (P1 - Random planting, P2 - Line planting and P3 - SRI method) were allotted to sub-plots. The experimental results revealed that Rice CO-52 registered lesser plant height (113.2 cm), higher drymatter (10330 kg/ha), LAI (4.70), total number of tillers (441/m2), number of productive tillers (394/m2), total number of grains and filled grains, grain yield (3780 kg/ha) and harvesting index. Among methods of planting, SRI method of planting registered higher growth characters, yield attributes and yield of rice than other methods of planting. Hence, it is inferred that SRI method enhanced productivity of rice under organic farming.
Key words: Organic farming, Traditional rice, Planting methods, Performance of rice.