Short communication comparison of direct seeded and transplanted rice in response to zinc under salt-affected soil

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of different levels of zn (0,5,10,15kg/ha) on growth and yield of direct seeded and transplanted rice (oryza sativa) under naturally salt-affected soil having ph=8.32; ece=6.41ds/m; sar=26.71(mmolc/l)1/2 at the farm of soil salinity research institute,pindi bhattian during 2013. plant height,number of tillers/plant,panicle length and number of grains/panicle were higher in transplanted rice than direct seeded rice at all zn levels. maximum paddy yield (2.61 t/ha) of direct seeded rice was attained with the application of 10 kg zn/ha closely followed by 15 kg zn/ha application (2.41 t/ha) which was statistical at par with paddy yield (2.45 t/ha) of transplanted rice in salt-affected field. however,overall paddy yield of direct seeded rice was 5 % higher than the transplanted rice.