Effect of Spacing and Date of Transplanting on Growth and Yield Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Variety Kalanamak

Abstract

Transplanting rice in the optimum period of time is critical to achieve high grain yield. However, optimum rice planting dates are regional and vary with location and genotypes. Rice plants require a particular temperature for its phonological affair such as panicle initiation, flowering, panicle exertions from flag leaf sheath and maturity and these are very much influenced by the planting dates during India season. The present study determines the effect of Spacing and Date of Transplanting on Growth and Yield Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) V. Kalanamak. A field experiment was conducted during Kharif season of 2025 at Crop Research Farm Department of Agronomy, Naini Agriculture Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences. The treatments consisted of 20 cm x 20 cm, 25 x 15 cm and 30 x 10 cm representing space and 08 July, 18 July and 28 July as different transplanting dates. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with 10 treatments and replicated thrice. The obtained results revealed that the highest values of plant height (76.67 cm), number of tillers/hill (22.00), plant dry weight (99.13 g), number of effective tillers/m2 (162.86), number of Panicle / hill (10.61), no. of seed/ panicles (91.72), grain yield (5.78 t/ha) and straw yield (14.89t/ha) test weight (18.75g), Index (31.75) were detected with seedling transplanted at 08 July with spacing 20 cm x20 cm. Sowing prior to the optimum planting window generally results in delayed germination and emergence, poor crop establishment, and increased susceptibility to soil-borne seedling diseases. In contrast, transplanting within the recommended time frame promotes uniform crop establishment, better tillering, and improved physiological efficiency, ultimately leading to enhanced yield performance. These findings underscore the importance of optimising both planting geometry and transplanting time as key agronomic practices for improving rice productivity under field conditions.