Seedling Vigour Index (SVI), weed competitiveness and root traits of aerobic rice under organic and inorganic sources nutrient management

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2017 and 2018 to study the effect of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients on SVI, weed competitiveness and root characteristics of aerobic rice with Integrated Nutrient Management in Aerobic rice. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with four organic sources of nutrients as main plots viz: M1: Neem leaf manure @ 6 t ha-1; M2: Vermicompost @ 2 t ha-1; M3: Goat manure @ 5 t ha-1; M4: Microbial consortia seed treatment @ 4g kg-1 + soil application @ 4 kg ha and four subplots with graded doses of fertilizers viz; S1: Control; S2: 50% RDF; S37: 5% RDF and S4:100% RDF (120-60-40). The study revealed that inorganic nutrient level of100% RDF exhibited a significantly superior Seedling Vigor Index (15.8) and lowest (13.1) was observed with control i.e.,0% RDF while organic nutrient source i.e., Neem leaf manure applied as a mulch, suppressed weed emergence resulted in lower weed population (3.7 no.m-2) and weed dry biomass (2.9 g). Both organic nutrient sources and inorganic nutrient levels exerted a remarkable effect on root traits viz; root length, root biomass, root volume. Application of M2 (vermicompost @ 2 t ha-1 ) orM3 (goat manure @ 5 t ha-1 ) and fertilizer dose of 100% RDF (120-60-40) resulted in higher root length, root biomass,root volume and root-shoot ratio.