Effect of Leaf Clipping and Nitrogen Split Application on Bridegroom Rice Productivity

Bridegroom rice is one the most important indigenous rice variety predominantly grown in Tamil Nadu, India. Lodging in nature and poor responsive to nitrogenous fertilizers affects the yield of this crop. To minimize crop lodging and to enhance the productivity, a field experiment was carried out during Samba 2023 at Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India to study the effect of leaf clipping and nitrogen split application on bridegroom rice productivity. The experiment was laid out in Factorial randomized block design (FRBD) with three replications. The treatments consisted of two factors viz., Factor I -leaf clipping (L): L1- No leaf clipping, L2 - leaf clipping on 30 DAT at one third of leaf, L3- leaf clipping on 45 DAT at one third of leaf and Factor II - split application of N (N) : N1- no splits (no NPK), N2 - 4 equal splits (basal, 25, 50, 75 DAT), N3­- 5 equal splits (basal 20, 40, 60,80 DAT ) and N4 - 6 equal splits (basal, 15, 30, 45, 60 ,75 DAT). Among the treatments, leaf clipping on 45 DAT at one third of leaf along with application of nitrogen in 6 equal split registered its superiority compared to others which recorded the higher values for growth attributes viz., plant height (243cm), number of tillers hill-1 (23.42), root length (33.56cm), root volume (45.19 cc) and dry matter production (12592 kg ha-1),yield attributes viz., number of panicles m-2 (407.62) and number of grains panicle-1 (158.34) and test weight (42.34g) and yields of rice (grain - 3950 kg ha-1­and straw - 6530 kg ha-1­). Thus, it can be concluded that leaf clipping on 45 DAT at one third of leaf along application of nitrogen in 6 equal splits is a viable practice to enhance the growth and yield of bridegroom rice.