Performance of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Varieties under Aerobic Cultivation in Mid Hills of Himachal Pradesh

Aerobic rice is a method of rice cultivation in which the crop is raised under un-puddle non-saturated aerobic condition with high external inputs with the objective of achieving higher productivity and water use efficiency. A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2012 at Malan to standardize seeding time for six promising rice varieties (four high yielding varieties and two locally recommended hybrids) under aerobic conditions. Each variety was sown at three different dates (10, 20 and 30 June). On an average, significantly higher grain yield was recorded when the sowing was done on 20 June though it was at par with 10 June sowing. Among the varieties, on an average hybrid PAC 807 gave significantly highest yield followed by Arize 6129. However, while comparing different combinations of seeding and variety altogether, Arize 6129 gave significantly highest yield when sown on 10 June. Among the HYVs tested, highest yield was recorded from HPR 1068 while HPR 2143 gave lowest yield. The economic indices calculated also showed similar trend with hybrids showing higher values for gross and net return but had lower B:C ratio owing to the higher cost of seed.