Irrigated rice plant growth in the main crop and the ratoon

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the physiological characteristics correlated to grain yield in both main and ratoon crops with the objective to establish the criteria for genotype selection in flooding irrigated rice. The experiment was arranged in a group balanced block design with four replications where the groups represented the growth cycles and the plots corresponded to the genotypes within cycles. The intermediate cycle genotypes in the ratoon crop presented the highest values for total aerial dry weight and leaf dry weight as compared to the short cycle cultivars. In the main crop, in addition to those parameters, the same genotypes presented the highest values for root dry weight, root density, leaf area index and leaf area duration. Leaf area ratio, specific leaf area, and leaf weight ratio in the main crop showed the highest at 20 days after emergence and decreased thereafter. Correlation analysis were performed among the variables studied and among those and grain yield of the main and ratoon crops. Physiological indexes of the main crop were correlated to grain yield but these correlations were not found significant for the ratoon crop.