Temporal deployment of cultivar mixture suppresses weed and enhances rice yield

Growing two or more cultivars of same crop species in mixture reduces intra-specific competition for natural resources and increases competitive ability of crops against weed growth and thus enhances crop yield. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potentiality of growing rice cultivars in mixtures in temporal dimension for minimizing weed pressure and increasing rice yield and to determine the best time of introduction of one cultivar in relation to another cultivar. The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during aman season (July-December) 2017. Two transplanted aman rice cultivars having different plant height and growth duration viz. Binadhan-13 (tall, late- maturing and fine grained aromatic rice cultivar) and BRRI dhan49 (semi-dwarf, mid-maturing and coarse grained rice cultivar) were used in this study. The experiment comprised time of introduction of BRRI dhan49 namely 7 days before Binadhan-13, 7 days after Binadhan-13, same day as Binadhan-13, Binadhan-13 as sole crop, BRRI dhan49 as sole crop and three different weeding regime namely weedy, recommended weeding and weed free. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Both the cultivars showed better growth and higher yield when grown in mixture rather than sole culture. Transplanting of one cultivar before or after another cultivar produced more yield and suppressed weed better than transplanting of two cultivars on the same day. Thus only spatial arrangement produced no advantages over sole culture. Among the weeding regimes, weedy treatment performed the worst, while recommended weeding and weed free treatment performed similarly. Therefore, for better weed suppression and higher production, BRRI dhan49 may be transplanted 7 days before or after Binadhan-13 in 1:1 ratio following recommended weeding.