Effect of Seedling Age and Plant Density on Yield and Yield Components of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Heart Province- Afghanistan

In order to study effect of seedling age and plant density on yield and yield components of rice (Sadri cultivar), a field experiment was conducted at the Ordukhan Agricultural Research Center, Heart Province - Afghanistan (Geographical longitude: 62°11'29" east and geographical latitude: 34°20'35" north) during the cropping season 2017-2018. The experiment was laid out in complete block design with three replications. Seeding ages with three levels (20, 30 and 40 days) were considered as main plots and plant densities with four levels (13, 17, 22 and 33 plants/m2) were allocated as sub plots. Analysis of variance showed that the effect of seedling age on number of tillers per plant, numbers of grains per panicle and grain yield was significant. The plant density had significant effect on all traits (expect, 1000grains weight). Interaction of two factors had no significant effect on any of the traits. The means comparison showed that the highest of number grains per panicle and grain yield were obtained for 30 days seedling age. Also, the highest of number of tiller per plant, number of fertile tiller per plant, number of grains per panicle and percent of unfilled grain were obtained by 13 plants per m2. But the highest biological yield, harvest index (HI) and grain yield obtained by 33 plants per m2. Based on simple correlation coefficient of traits, grain yield had significant positive correlation with biological yield, number fertile tiller per plant and number grains per panicle.