Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Field experiments were carried out at Ludhiana in Punjab during 1982 and 1983 on the effect of foliar application of water spray or naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) at 100 and 200 mg/1 of water on the growth and yield of rice when applied at tillering and before panicle emergence stages of late-transplanted paddy grown under four levels of nitrogen (0, 60, 90 and 120 kg/ha). Foliar spray of NAA significantly increased the grain yield of paddy as compared with water spray under low levels of nitrogen (0 and 60 kg/ha) owing to increases in the number of ear-bearing shoots per plant, number of filled grains per panicle and grain weight. Chlorophyll content of leaves, leaf area index and interception of photosynthetically active radiation by the crop canopy also increased with foliar spray of NAA and application of nitrogen. Paddy responded significantly up to 90 kg N/ha in terms of grain yield whereas straw yield increased significantly up to 120 kg N/ha. However, grain mass declined significantly with increase in nitrogen from 90 to 120 kg/ha.