Effects of Rice Straw Compost and Nitrogen Levels on the Shoot Height of Rice (IR64) Seedlings

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of rice straw compost and nitrogen levels in the shoot height of IR64 seedlings (a semidwarf, high-yielding rice variety). The study adopted a 2 x 3 factorial in completely randomized design (CRD) using six treatments representing two levels of rice straw compost: absence of rice straw compost (RSO), and presence of rice straw compost (RS1) and three nitrogen levels: 0 kg/ha (No), 30 kg/ha (N3p), and 60kg/ha (Neo). Seedlings grown 8 and 20 days after germination (DAG) in the presence of rice straw compost had significantly lower shoot height than those grown in the absence of nice straw compost. Only rice seedlings grown in soil with N30 and N60 showed significantly greater shoot height than those grown without nitrogen (NO) at 4 DAG. Statistical analysis (one way ANOVA) showed that at 0.05 level of significance, rice straw compost and nitrogen levels did not significantly improve the shoot height of the 20-day old rice seedlings. Duncan’s multiple range test at p = 2 showed that the mean shoot height for RSO level was significantly higher than that for RSI level.