SHALLOW WATER MANAGEMENT AND PLANT SPACING ON ROOT PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF RICE

A field experiment was conducted at Yamagata University Experimental Farm, Tsuruoka, Japan during 2010-11 to evaluate the effect of shallow water management and plant spacing on root physiological activities of rice. Two plant spacing 30 cm × 30 cm (wider) and 30 cm × 15 cm (narrow) and water managements shallow (1 to 2 cm pond water depth) and conventional (5 to 6 cm pond water depth) were practiced during the cultivation period and laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The trend of respiration rate was higher in shallow water management under wider and narrow spacing at different growth stages (38 to 87 DAT) and had no significant differences between the water management. The xylem exudation rate was significantly (5% level) higher in shallow water management at 48 DAT under wider and narrow spacing. Root mass density was higher at 87 DAT and showed the significant (5% level) in shallow water management than conventional water management under wider spacing.