Yield and Quality Characters of Local Boro Rice Varieties of South-West Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

The research work was conducted at the Professor Purnendu Gain Field Laboratory and Agronomy Laboratory of Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna during November 2011 to May 2012 to study the growth, yield performance and grain quality characteristics of local boro rice varieties collected from the south-western region of Bangladesh. Twelve local boro rice varieties were included viz. Nayon moni, Tere bale, Bere ratna, Ashan boro, Kajollata, Koijore, Kali boro, Bapoy, Latai balam, Choite boro and Sylhety boro. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. In this experiment, growth parameters viz. plant height and number of tillers hill⁻¹ (at different days after transplanting); yield contributing characters such as effective tillers hill⁻¹, panicle length, number of grains panicle⁻¹, filled grains panicle⁻¹, thousand grain weight, grain yield, straw yield, biological yield and harvest index were recorded. Plant height and number of tillers hill⁻¹ at different days after transplanting varied significantly among the varieties. The plant height for all the varieties and number of tillers hill⁻¹ for most of the varieties increased up to harvest. At harvest, the tallest plant (123.80 cm) was recorded in Bapoy and the shortest (81.13 cm) was found in GS one. The maximum number of tillers hill⁻¹ (46.00) was observed in Sylhety boro and the minimum (19.80) in Bere ratna. All of the parameters of yield and yield contributing characters differed significantly at 1% level except grain yield, biological yield and harvest index. The maximum number of effective tillers hill⁻¹ (43.87) was recorded in the variety Sylhety boro and the minimum (17.73) was found in Bere ratna. The highest (110.57) and the lowest (42.13) number of filled grains panicle⁻¹ was observed in the variety Koijore and Sylhety boro, respectively. Thousand grain weight was the highest (26.35 g) in Kali boro and the lowest (17.83 g) in GS one. Grain yield did not differ significantly among the varieties but differed numerically; the highest grain yield (5.01 t ha⁻¹) was found in the variety Koijore and the lowest in G.S. one. In case of grain quality, five types of hull color and three types of pericarp color were investigated among the tested varieties. Out of twelve varieties, awn was observed in five varieties such as Koijore, Nayonmoni, Choite boro, Sylhety boro and Kali boro. Physical and chemical parameters of grains differed significantly. The longest grain (6.65 mm) was found in the variety Latai balam and the shortest grain (5.46 mm) was in GS one. The highest grain width was recorded in Kali boro (2.74 mm) and the lowest (1.97 mm) was in Latai balam. The maximum grain shape (3.37) was observed in Latai balam, which was statistically similar to Kajollata. All the varieties exhibited low alkali digestibility, i.e. alkali spreading score 1 and 2, except Tere bale, which showed intermediate alkali digestibility, i.e. alkali spreading score 3. All the varieties exhibited soft gel consistency.