Seedling Establishment and Performance of Spring Rice Varieties Under Various Nursery Types in Parbat, Nepal

Cold stress is a critical constraint in seedling production during winter, particularly with uncertain climatic conditions. Simple and sustainable technologies for resource-poor farmers are yet to be developed. This research mainly focused on evaluating seedling establishment and performance under different nursery types in spring rice varieties at Parbat, Nepal. The experiment was conducted from February 2022 to April 2022 under PMAMP, Rice Zone, Parbat. The experiment was conducted with a two-factor randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Three levels of nursery types (wet bed, dry bed, and dry bed shallow plastic tunnel) and two types of rice variety (Chaite-5 and local variety) were used as treatments. Rice seeds were sown on Falgun 07, 2078 (Nepali calendar). Results indicated that the dry bed shallow plastic tunnel method significantly improved growth attributes, emergence, and survival rates compared to other nursery types. This improvement may be attributed to the warm and moist conditions maintained inside the polythene cover. The growth parameters (number of expanded leaves, shoot length, and root length) and the emergence rate were statistically similar between wet and dry bed treatments. The local cultivar (Dalle) contained the highest shoot length (13.93cm at 30 DAS) and percentage of survival (71.66%), critical parameters for cold tolerance. Notably, the local Dalle variety under the dry bed shallow plastic tunnel method performed best under the climatic conditions of Parbat. Therefore, improved nursery bed management (shallow plastic tunnel) and the local variety may be recommended for better productivity in Parbat, Nepal.