Effect of different level of poultry manure and seaweed extract on growth, yield and quality of rice (<i>Oryza sativa </i>L.)

Nutrients are required to maintain the quality and quantity of rice. The use of poultry manure and seaweed extract as organic fertilisers has gained attention due to their potential to improve rice growth, yield, and quality. This field experiment was carried out to check the different levels of poultry manure and seaweed extract on rice’s growth, yield and quality during the Kharif season of 2023 at the Research Farm, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab. The experimental design was a Randomised Blocks Design (RBD) with 13 treatments T1 to T13), and each treatment had three replications. The results revealed that among the 13 treatments, the crop raised with poultry manure at 15 t ha-1 + 3 times seaweed extract (T13) significantly impacted rice growth, yield, and quality at 5% levels of significance . The highest plant parameters of height (110.8 cm), dry weight hill-1 (54.20 g), crop growth rate (CGR) of 21.09 g m-1 day-1 and relative growth rate (RGR) of 0.0062430 g g-1day-1 were all recorded in T13 (poultry manure @ 15 t ha-1 + 3 times seaweed extract). The treatment T13 also influence on improving panicle length (28.13 cm), number of effective tillers hill-1 (15.99), number of grain panicles-1 (132.24), test weight (24.68 g), grain yield (6.70 t ha-1), straw yield (9.64 t ha-1) and harvest Index (40.99%). The same treatment also recorded maximum protein content (8.74%) and carbohydrate content (72.91%). Thus, the production of rice can be significantly increased by using poultry manure at 15 t ha-1 + 3 times seaweed extract application.