Affiliation(s)
1. Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
2. Evangel University, PMB 129, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
3. Department of Crop Production and Landscape Management, Ebonyi State University, PMB 053, Abakaliki, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
To investigate the effect of planting date, spacing and seeding methods
on disease development and yield components of rice, a factorial experiment in randomized
complete block design (RCBD) with four replications was conducted during 2011 planting
season at Izzi Local Government Area (LGA) of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. This
experiment was carried out with four levels of planting dates (early June, late
June, early July and late July), three levels of spacing (15, 20 and 25 cm) and
two levels of seeding method (direct seeding and seedling transplanting).
The studied traits included plant height (PH), number of tillers (NT), leaf
area (LA), root length (RL), panicle length (PL), 1,000 seed weight (SW),
disease incidence and severity. The result showed that all the factors had significant effect on the
parameters measured. Sowing in early July had the highest LA of 65.38 cm2, PH of 122.00 cm, RL of 29.04 cm and TN of 10.54, and the second largest PL of
25.08 cm and SW of 25.12 g. Also sowing in
early July had the highest disease severity of 3.21, followed by 3.14 which occurred in late July, while the least 2.17 occurred in early June. The direct seeding method had the highest disease incidence
of 70.83%, followed by plant
spacing of 15 cm × 15 cm which had the disease
incidence of 69.72%, while sowing in early June had the least disease incidence of 57.50%.
In conclusion, planting of rice in Southeastern
Nigeria should be done in early July, as the yield components were significantly better than in other dates
though with the highest disease severity.
KEYWORDS
Disease development, planting dates, spacing, planting methods, rice,
Southeastern Nigeria, yield components.
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References