2003 Volume 47 Issue 3 Pages 215-221
A comparative study was carried out to evaluate four imported (one from China and three from India) hybrid rice cultivars with a check high yielding variety (BRRI Dhan-29) (as control) at the farmer field-level in 33 locations of Bangladesh. Yield and yield contributing characters, physicochemical properties and cost-return benefits of hybrid rice were analyzed. The Chinese cultivar-Sonarbangla-1 performed best in terms of all the parameters considered. The other three Indian cultivars (Amarsiri-1, Aalok and Loknath) had lower performance than the check variety (control) . Sonarbangla-1 produced a 20% higher rice yield (7.55 t ha-1) than the check variety (6.26 t ha-1) . Yield advantage for the hybrid rice was mainly due to heavier grain weight (35%) and to increased values in the proportion of filled grains/panicle over the check variety (28%) . Shorter field duration was observed in Sonarbangla-1 than the check variety. About a 16% and 32% higher cost was incurred in Sonarbangla-1 than the check variety when calculated on a full-cost and cash-cost basis, respectively. However, gross return was 21% higher in Sonarbangla-1 than the check variety thus contributing to a 5% higher benefit-cost ratio. These results suggest that Sonarbangla-1 is a promising hybrid rice under Bangladesh context.
