Effect of Date of Transplanting and Spacing under Raised Bed System on the Yield of Superamandhan

Field studies were carried out to investigate the effect of the date of transplanting and spacing on the yield and yield-related parameters of Superamandhan. The experimental treatments included four transplanting dates viz. 15 June, 30 June, 15 July, and 30 July 2014, and 6 spacings viz. 80 cm × 60 cm, single row (S₁); 80 cm × 60 cm, double rows (S₂); 80 cm × 50 cm, single row (S₃); 80 cm × 50 cm, double rows (S₄); 80 cm × 40 cm, single row (S₅) and 80 cm × 40 cm, double rows (S₆). The experiment was laid out in a Split-Plot Design with three replications assigning date of transplanting to the main plots and spacing to the sub plots. The size of the unit plot was 12.8 m² (4.0 m × 3.2 m). Results of the study showed that the effect of date of transplanting and spacing had a significant effect on all the parameters, except 1000-grain. From the analysis of the yield data, it was observed that late transplanting decreased yield. The highest grain yield of 4.28 t ha^-1 was obtained from transplanting on 15 June, while the lowest grain yield of 2.30 t ha^-1 was found on 30 July transplanting. The results show that due to the higher number of plant densities on narrower spacing the yield was higher than the wider spacing. The highest grain yield (3.93 t ha^-1) was obtained from 80 cm × 40 cm, double rows spacing, and the lowest grain yield (2.93 t ha^-1) was obtained from 80 cm × 60 cm, single row spacing. The interaction effect of date of transplanting and spacing was also found significant for yield and plant characters of Superamandhan, except 1000-grain weight. Results of the present study revealed that transplanting on 15 June with 80 cm × 40 cm double rows spacing was found to be the best for obtaining maximum grain yield of Superamandhan.