Abstract

                                An experiment conducted to study the effect of pre flowering moisture stress and seed. hardening in short duration Kharifrice revealed that moisture stress at vegetative stage affected the tillering and panicle production but not the grains panicle, thousand grain weight, grain yield and harvest index. Seed hardening of rice cv.TKM.9 with succinic acid 100 ppm increased the root length, root dry matter, production of panicles, test weight of grain and increased the grain yield by 12.5 per cent over untreated seeds. Maintaining a dry seeded rice crop at weekly wetting with 40 mm of water upto 45 days from germination has registered a saving of 62 per cent of irrigation water compared to continuous wetting without sacrificing the grain yield.

Key words : Rice, Dry seeded, Irrigation regimes.