Effect of inter and intra seasonal variability in meteorological parameters on rice productivity in central Punjab

Abstract

A study was conducted to ascertain the role of meteorological parameters on year to year variability in rice yield in Punjab using 12 years (2000-11) data of Ludhiana district. The rice growing season was divided into three stages (entire rice season, vegetative stage and reproductive stage) and the meteorological data during these stages were correlated with the rice yields. Highly significant (p=0.05) positive correlation was noticed between grain yield and sunshine hours received during entire rice season and vegetative stage of the crop. The maximum temperature during entire rice season and vegetative stage was significantly (p=0.10) and positively correlated with grain yield. During all three stages maximum relative humidity had significantly negative correlation with grain yield. Rainfall during vegetative stage and number of rainy days during reproductive stage were significantly and negatively correlated with grain yield. After studying the deviation of meteorological parameters from respective normals during high and low yield years and the correlation of meteorological parameters with rice yield it can be concluded that in the central parts of the Punjab sunshine hours play a major role in determining the productivity of rice.

Keywords

• Rice
• Punjab
• maximum
• minimum
• temperature
• sunshine hours