Effect of Integrated Nitrogen Management on Growth and Yield Characteristics of Local and Modern Aromatic Rice Cultivars in Bangladesh

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of integrated nitrogen management on growth and yield performance of six aromatic rice varieties. The experiment involved six aromatic rice varieties: V1 (BR5), V2 (BRRI dhan34), V3 (BRRI dhan37), V4 (BRRI dhan70), V5 (Kalijira), and V6 (Chinigura), with five nitrogen treatments being applied. Results showed that the T5 treatment produced the tallest plants (156.8 cm), the highest tiller count (483.3 m-2), and highest leaf area index (6.79). The maximum TDM (75.14 g hill-1) and RGR (0.17 g/g/day) were observed with T4 treatment in BR5 and BRRI dhan70. The highest CGR (28.12 g/m²/day) was achieved with T5 treatment in BR5. BRRI dhan70 had the uppermost grain yield (4.53 t ha-1) under T4 treatment, while Kalijira had the least yield (1.68 t ha-1) in the control. Multivariate analysis confirmed the superiority of T4 in BRRI dhan70 and distinguished modern from local varieties based on growth and yield traits. The findings suggest that BRRI dhan70, combined with T4 treatment, is optimal for maximizing yield among the varieties tested.