Six levels of energy input were used to cultivate three Sali paddy varieties of different durations. Operationwise as well as source-wise energy output, energy efficiency and energy productivity for different levels of energy input in paddy varieties were determined. Studies showed that with increase in the level of mechanization, the human and animal hour requirement for paddy cultivation was reduced from 795 to 350 and 352.5 to 22.5 hr/ha, respectively. Thus mechanization helped in a substantial reduction of drudgery of human and animals. Total energy requirement for paddy cultivation in the studied six levels of energy input ranged from 5630 to 8448 MJ/ha. Energy used in paddy cultivation could be reduced by 8 to 23% through increasing the level of mechanization. Under these six input energy levels and varieties, output parameters viz., output energy, energy use efficiency and energy productivity ranged from 35456 to 85922 MJ/ha, 5.94 to 13.09 and 0.4 to 0.89 kg/MJ, respectively. For all the levels of energy input, higher values of output energy parameters were observed in the long duration variety Ranjit compared to other two varieties. The benefit-cost (B:C) ratio under different levels of energy input varied from 0.95 to 2.90.

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A field experiment was carried out at Instructional-cum-farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhatduring kharif 2015. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design replicated thrice with four sowing dates in main plots viz., 1May, 11 May, 21and 31May along with combination of two methods of sowing viz., direct seeding and transplanting as well as with two nutrient management practices RDF and INM package in sub-plots. Results revealed that May 11date recorded significantly higher in almost all the growth and yield attributing parameters followed by May 1. The highest grain (40.24 q/ha) and straw (68.07 q/ha) yields were obtained in May 11 sown crop and was significantly superior to that of May 21and May 31. Between the two methods of sowing, transplantingresulted significantly superior in regards to almost all the growth, yield attributes and yield of sali rice. The increase in grain yield under transplanting over direct seeding was4.90 per cent. The corresponding increase in straw yield was 4.31 per cent In respect of nutrient management; INM resulted in higher grain and straw yieldsover RDF. From the economic point of view May 11 sown crop recorded the highest net return ( . 57625.00/ ha) with B:C ratio of 1.57 whereas in case of methods of sowing and nutrient management practices, direct seeding and INM practice recorded the highest net return and B:C ratio.