Performance of rice cultivars for yield and yield attributes at twelve different dates of sowing

A field investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of different sowing dates on yield and yield components of six rice cultivars during 2018-2019 at Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Experiment constituted of twelve sowing dates i.e. from 20th June 2018 to 01st Feb 2019 with an interval of 20 days between each sowing. Data on morphology, yield attributes and yield of six rice genotypes were recorded and statistically analysed by split plot design (main plot- cultivars, subplot- dates of sowing). Significant interaction studies between cultivars and dates of sowing revealed cv. JGL 3855 to perform best for grain yield over other cultivars. The yield contributing parameters productive tiller number m-2, panicle weight, grain number per panicle and spikelet fertility attributed for the high yielding feature in cv. JGL 3855. Further, interaction studies indicated that sowing date D1 (20th Jun’2018) was best suitable for all the cultivars except WGL 24071 to attain maximum grain yield. WGL 24071 performed best (7556 kg ha-1) on D8 (20th Nov’2018) sowing indicating that this cultivar is well suited for Rabi than Kharif season. D1 (20th Jun’2018) sowing also recorded maximum plant height, number of productive (panicle bearing) tillers, panicle length, panicle weight, number of grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, filled grain per m2 and spikelet fertility %.