Abstract:Climatic change creates uncertainty in production and quality of produce in rice production and is a major concern today, hence, to specify optimum time and varieties to plant with affordable method of planting like directly seeded rice (DSR) an experiment to investigate the effect of different sowing dates on growth and yield performance of drilled paddy varieties in
kharif season was taken for three years.
As per the data obtained the 24th meteorological week (11 June to 17 June) found to be most suitable sowing window for directly sown rice due to highest plant height (91.76 cm), higher number of panicles per square meter (403), highest number of panicles per plant (9.55), number of grains per panicle (195), grain yield (67.34 q/ha), straw yield (73.14 q/ha) by the variety Phule Samruddhi. The 25th meteorological week (18 June to 24 June) and scented variety of rice Indrayani may be a contingent second option with the least effect on yield attributes to the farmers in the changing climatic scenario at sub-mountain zone conditions of Maharashtra.