Agronomic manipulation for adaptation of black rice cultivars in plain land environment to eliminate hidden hunger

Abstract

Two field experiemtns were conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from July 2016 to December 2016 to study the effect of cultivars, date of transplanting and fertilizer dose on the yield and quality of few hilly black rice cultivars. The experiment one consisted of two factors. Factor A: Varieties, viz., i) Galong se and ii) Gelong ni and Factor B: Planting date, viz., i) July 20, ii) August 5, iii) August 20, iv) September 5, v) September 20 and vi) October 5. The experiment two also consisted with two factors. Factor A: varieties, viz., i) Kongnam ene ii) Gelong se and iii) Nazirshail rice and Factor B: Fertilizer management viz., i) No fertilizer ii) 50% of recommended dose (RD) of fertilizers of a local aman rice variety, iii) 75% of RD of fertilizers of a local aman rice variety, iv) 100% of RD of fertilizers of a local aman rice variety, v) 125% of RD of fertilizers of a local aman rice variety and vi) 150% of RD of fertilizers of a local aman rice variety. Results revealed that among varieties, the black rice cultivar Gelong se was best grain yielding potential variety than three other rice varieties, of which two are black rice cultivars (Kongnam ene and Gelong ne) and another one is plain land white rice cultivar (Nizershail). Regarding time of transplanting it has been found that all the varieties gave higher yield when they were transplanted either on July 20 or August 05. The worst transplanting time was October 5 when lowest grain yield was obtained. From the nutritional view point, it has been found that all the three black rice cultivars got higher crude protein (%), crude fibre (%), ash (%), crude fat (%), Fe (ppm) and Zn (ppm) content over white rice cultivar. Therefore, it can be concluded that black rice could be incorporated in human diet and it would be a way of eliminating hidden hunger.