Rice seedling for mechanical transplanting must meet the requirements of standard seedling block with uniform distribution of seedlings and inter-twisting roots for rolling. This study was carried out at the Farm Power and Machinery Department, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet during Boro season/2018-19 with the objective of evaluating the different seedling growing media for raising quality mat type rice seedling. Two-ways factorial design with 3 replications was followed to conduct the study. Seedling were raised on plastic tray using two types of soil (sandy clay loam and sandy clay) mixing with four different categories of organic substance (decomposed cow dung, rice bran, rice husk and tea wastage) at the rate of 0.0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%, respectively to get the desired combinations as per treatments. Rolling quality of the seedling mat decreased and fungal infection increased with the increase of mixing rate of organic substance except cow-dung. Sandy clay loam showed better performance on rolling quality of the seedling mat over sandy clay soil. Tea wastage and rice husk organic substance indicated poor bonding of the seedling mat in both type of soils because of restricting the roots growth which loosen the bonding of the tray soil. There was a tendency of crack forming on the sandy clay soil. In general, 10 to 15% of cow-dung or rice bran mixture with both type of soils was found suitable as growing media to get quality seedling in mat for mechanical transplanting. The findings of the study could be promoted widely in farmers field to raise better quality of mat type seedling for better performance of the mechanical rice transplanter which ultimately led to get better rice yield.
Key words: Rice transplanter; organic fertilizer; rolling capacity; pests and diseases; percentage of soil mixture
|
