EFFECT OF SEEDLING AGE ON GROWTH & YIELD OF BINA DHAN 6

An experiment was conducted at Rangpur, Bangladesh during November 2015 to July 2016 to study the effect of seedling ages on the growth & yield of BINA dhan 6. Seedlings of different ages, viz 25, 35, 45, 55 & 65 days old were transplanted on the same day. Result revealed that plant height, number of leaves hill-1, total dry matter (TDM) hill-1, leaf area index (LAI), number of total tillers, number fertile tillers hill-1, number of grains panicle-1, 1000 grain weight, grain & straw yield was affected significantly due to different ages of seedlings. The result also showed that number of tillers hill-1, number of leaves hill-1, & leaf area index increased for all seedling ages up to 75 days after transplanting (DAT) and decreased gradually thereafter. The highest number of tillers hill-1, leaves hill-1 and leaf area index, the highest amount of stem, leaf, root and total dry matter and CGR were obtained from 35days old seedlings at all sampling dates. The highest number of effective tillers hill-1, panicle length, number of grains panicle-1, grain yield (6.96 t ha-1) and straw yield (7.75 t ha-1) were also achieved by 35 days old seedlings at harvest. Thirty-five days old seedlings were found to be superior to other ages of seedlings in term of growth and grain yield