An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to study the effect of integrated fertilizer and weed management on the growth performance of aromatic Boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan50). The experiment comprised six fertilizer managements viz., control (no manures and no fertilizers), recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers (i.e. Urea, TSP, MoP, Gypsum, ZnSO4 @ 250, 120, 120, 100, 10 kg ha-1, respectively), 50% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cowdung @ 5 t ha-1, 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cowdung @ 5 t ha-1, 50% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1, and 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers +  poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1 and four weed managements viz., control (no weeding), pre-emergence herbicide, Panida 33 EC @ 2.5 l ha-1 + one hand weeding at 35 DAT, post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC @ 93.70 ml ha-1 + one hand weeding at 35 DAT, pre-emergence herbicide, Panida 33 EC @ 2.5 l ha-1 + post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC @ 93.70 ml ha-1. The experiment was laid out in a factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Growth traits of aromatic Boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan50) were significantly influenced by integrated fertilizer and weed management. Plant height, number of tillers hill-1, total dry matter, leaf area index (LAI) and crop growth rate (CGR) gave their highest values in 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers and poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1 along with pre-emergence herbicide, Panida 33 EC @ 2.5 l ha-1 + post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC @ 93.70 ml ha-1 while their corresponding lowest values were found in control. So it can be concluded that, the interaction of 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers and poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1 along with pre-emergence herbicide (Panida 33 EC @ 2.5 l ha-1) + post-emergence herbicide (Granite 240 SC @ 93.70 ml ha-1) appears as the promising combination in respect of growth performance of aromatic Boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan50).

An experiment was conducted at the Seed Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from January to April 2012 to study the effect of hydropriming on field establishment of seedlings obtained from primed seeds of Boro rice cv. BRRI dhan29. Seeds were soaked in water for 0, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54 and 60 hours. The incubation period was 30 hours at 35°C temperature. Seed quality viz. percent germination, mean germination time, vigor index, shoot length, root length, shoot dry weight and root dry weight of rice seedlings were measured. Plant population m-2 also recorded to understand the field establishment of primed seeds. It was observed that priming treatments had significant effect on germination and other growth parameters of rice seedlings. The highest germination, vigor index, population m-2, length of shoot and root and their weight were found at 15 and 30 DAS. The lowest mean germination time was observed from hydropriming of seeds with 30 hours soaking. On the contrary, no priming treatment showed the lowest germination, vigor index, population m-2, and the highest mean germination time. The study concludes that BRRI dhan29 rice seed could be primed for 30 hours as hydropriming improves germination and field establishment of rice seedlings of Boro rice cv. BRRI dhan29.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v1i4.9102  Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 1(4): 220-223

An experiment was conducted at the Seed Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from January to April 2012 to study the effect of osmopriming of Boro rice seed (cv. BRRI dhan29). Seeds were soaked in 1%, 3% and 5% solutions of ZnSO4, KCl and CaCl2 for 24 hours, respectively, with 30 hours incubation at 35°C temperature. Seed quality tests such as percent germination, mean germination time, vigor index, shoot length, root length, shoot dry weight and root dry weight of rice seedlings were measured for all treatments. Population m-2 was also calculated to investigate the field establishment of primed seeds. The highest germination, vigor index, population m-2, shoot length and shoot dry weight at 15 and 30 DAS, root length at 15 DAS, root dry weight at 15 and 30 DAS and the lowest mean germination time was observed from priming of seeds with 3% ZnSO4. Exceptionally, priming with 3% CaCl2 showed the highest root length at 30 DAS. On the contrary, 3% and 5% CaCl2 priming treatment showed the lowest germination, vigor index, population m-2, shoot length and shoot dry weight at 15 and 30 DAS, root length at 15 DAS, root dry weight at 15 and 30 DAS and the highest mean germination time. It can be concluded that rice seed (cv. BRRI dhan29) can be primed with 3% ZnSO4 solution for improving germination and field establishment of rice seedlings.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v1i4.9131  Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 1(4): 228-232