~ 328 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(1): 328-332 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(1): 328-332 Received: 12-11-2017 Accepted: 14-12-2017 Rukhsana Jan 1) Division of agronomy, Sher E Kashmir University of agricultural sciences and technology, Shalimar Srinagar, India 2) Department of Agriculture, SBBS University, Khiala Jalandhar, PB, India Farooq Ahmad aga Division of agronomy, Sher E Kashmir University of agricultural sciences and technology, Shalimar Srinagar, India Fayaz Ahmad Bahar Division of agronomy, Sher E Kashmir University of agricultural sciences and technology, Shalimar Srinagar, India Talwinder Singh Department of Agriculture, SBBS University, Khiala Jalandhar, PB, India Rafiq Lone Department of Botany, SBBS University, Khiala Jalandhar, PB, India Correspondence Rukhsana Jan 1) Division of agronomy, Sher e Kashmir University of agricultural sciences and technology, Shalimar Srinagar, India 2) Department of Agriculture, SBBS University, Khiala Jalandhar, PB, India Effect of nitrogen and silicon on growth and yield attributes of transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.) under Kashmir conditions Rukhsana Jan, Farooq Ahmad aga, Fayaz Ahmad Bahar, Talwinder Singh and Rafiq Lone Abstract The field experiment entitled “Effect of nitrogen and silicon on growth and yield attributes of transplanted rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Under Kashmir conditions was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir during Kharif season 2014 and 2015. The soil of the experiment was silty clay loam in texture, neutral in reaction with medium available nitrogen (442.88kg ha -1 ), phosphorus (9.3kg ha -1 ), potassium (221.60kg ha -1 ) and low available silicon (280.23kg ha -1 ). The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Completely Block Design assigning combinations of three nitrogen levels (N1: 120, N2: 150, N3: 180 kg/ha) and four silicon applications (Si0: Control, Si1: 5%, Si2: 10% and Si3:15%) with four replications. The results revealed plant height was significantly highest with 180kgN ha -1 from 30DAT upto at harvest. Among silicon applications, plant height was significantly highest with 15%Si compared to rest of treatments during both the years. However, leaf area index were significantly highest with 180kgN ha -1 from 30- 45DAT but from 60DAT upto harvest, leaf area index were significantly highest with 120kgN ha -1 .With regard to the effect of silicon applications, leaf area index was significantly highest with 15%Si during both the years. The yield attributes viz. panicle length, spikelets panicle -1 and grains panicle -1 were significantly higher with 120kgN ha -1 while same yield attributes were significantly highest with 15%Si during both the years. Different nitrogen levels and silicon applications failed to influence the 1000-grain weight significantly. Keywords: Growth, Nitrogen, Rice, Silicon, Yield attributes Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food for more than half of the worlds population. Globally it is grown on an acreage of 158 million hectares with total production of 700 million tonnes and productivity 4.43 ton per hectare (FAO, 2014) [3] . In Jammu and Kashmir rice is grown on an area of 261.66 hectares with a production of 5456 quintals and productivity of 20.95 quintals per hectares (DES, 2012-2013). Application of nitrogen fertilizer is an important practice for increasing rice yield. It is essential to the rice plant, with about 75 per cent of leaf nitrogen associated with chloroplasts, which are physiologically important in dry matter production (Dalling, 1995) [1] . Rice plants require nitrogen during the vegetative phase to promote tillering, which determines the potential number of panicles. (Mae, 1997) [13] . Nitrogen contributes to spikelet production during the early panicle formation stage and contributes to sink size by decreasing the number of generated spikelets and increasing full size during the late panicle formation stage. Rice is considered to be a silicon accumulator plant and tends to actively accumulate Si to tissue concentrations of 5% or higher. Recently Si has been regarded as quasi-essential element for the growth of higher plants (Epstein, 2002) [4] . Reduced amount of silicon in plant produces necrosis, disturbance in leaf photosynthetic efficiency, growth retardation and reduces grain yield in cereals especially rice (Shashidhar et al., 2008) [19] . Keeping in view the above facts, the present study was designed with the objective to study the effect of nitrogen and silicon on growth and yield attributes of transplanted rice. Materials and Methods The field experiment was carried out at Research Farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar during Kharif season, 2014 and 2015. The soil of the experiment was silty clay loam in texture, neutral in reaction with medium available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and low available silicon. The factorial experiment (two factors) based on randomised complete block design with four replications