Yield Response of Short Duration HYV Aman Rice to Transplanting Times in the Coastal Region of Southwestern Bangladesh

Abstract
Transplanted (T.) aman rice is the major crop in the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh where most of the fields remain fallow the rest of the year due to the cultivation of late-maturing and long-duration aman rice varieties with low yield potential. Timely transplanting of short-duration HYV varieties increased grain yield and allowed the field to be cleared earlier for the next crop. The experiment was conducted in the experimental field of Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna during the monsoon (June to December) for investigating the influence of transplanting dates on growth, yield attributes, and yield of Binadhan-7. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated thrice. The experimental treatment comprised of ten transplanting dates (viz.,9 July, 16 July, 23 July, 30 July, 6 August, 13 August, 20 August, 27 August, 3 September, and 10 September) at 7 days intervals. Data recorded on different growth, yield, and yield contributing parameters were influenced substantially by the dates of transplanting. Results of this study showed that transplanting on 30 July produced the tallest plant (105.40 cm), highest tiller hill-1 (20.40), effective tillers hill-1 (17.30), panicle length (22.22 cm), number of grain panicle-1 (10.34), 1000 grain weight (22.83 g), grain yield (4.72 tha-1), straw yield (5.15 tha-1) and harvest index (47.85%) which were on parity with 6 August of transplanting. From the findings of this study, it can be concluded that from 30 July to 6 of August is optimum and recommended transplanting window for the short duration aman rice variety (Binadhan-7) in the coastal zone of southwestern Bangladesh. Furthermore, this transplanting window resulted in an early harvest and timely vacant the field for winter crop planting.