Performance of two rice varieties in different numbers of seedlings hill-1 at Khairahani, Chitwan, Nepal

A field experiment was conducted from June to October 2022 at Khairahani Municipality, Chitwan, Nepal, to evaluate the effects of the number of seedlings (one, two, three, and four) hill -1 and rice varieties (US-305 and Ramdhan) on rice yield. The number of seedlings hill-1 is one of the most important factors for determining rice yield. Farmers need to know the appropriate number of seedlings hill-1 needed for different rice varieties. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the performance of two rice varieties under different numbers of seedlings hill-1, to determine the optimum number of seedlings hill-1 or improving rice yield at Khairahani, Chitwan, Nepal. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Seedlings of both varieties were planted at a spacing of 20×20 cm. The study focused on various growth and yields, attributing parameters of rice, including plant height, tiller number, effective tillers, thousand grain weight, grain yield per hectare, and biological yield per hectare. The number of seedlings hill-1 was found to have the highest impact on yield attributing characters. The highest plant height (124.72 cm), effective tiller per square meter (342), panicle length (28.65 cm), number of filled grains per panicle (120.43), economic yield, biological yield, and HI were found in two seedlings, hill-1. Whereas one seedling hill-1 had the highest effective grains per panicle (142.66), test weight (24.23g), and straw yield (10.63 t/ha). Thus, US-305 had better growth and yield attributes, suggesting farmers of Khairahani can combine two seedlings of US 305.