Abstract

• This study was carried out to study the performance of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) on the growth and yield of selected rice varieties by comparing the traditional cultivation method and SRI method. This study also determined the SRI and green manure application on three commercial rice varieties: Sinthukha, Shwewharhtun and Manawthukha. In traditional method, the spacing of 20 × 15 cm was followed and 25 day-old seedlings were used whereas in SRI cultivation method, the wider spacing of 25 × 25 cm was followed and the 8 to12 day-old seedlings were used. Although large numbers of seedlings were needed for traditional method, a small amount of seedlings were needed for SRI method. The results indicated that all the plant characters and grain yields were significantly affected by the seedling ages. The maximum grain yields, 6912.71kg ha-1 were observed in 8 day-old seedlings (T₃) under SRI method and the minimum, 4561.05 kg ha ha-1 were observed in 25 day-old seedlings (T₁). Among the three varieties, Shwewharhtun (V₂) gave the highest grain yields. There were no interaction between the seedling ages and the rice varieties.