Effect of Sowing Methods on the Performance of Upland Rice Fitted between owland Rice and Vegetables in an Inland Valley.

Triple cropping in inland valleys (IVs) is technically possible; however, the third crop between main crop and dry season cropping has poor crop establishment due to soil saturation. Identification of appropriate sowing method is required to take advantage of this niche that has not been fully exploited. A field experiment was conducted at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria in 2007 to evaluate sowing methods on performance of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) in lowland rice–upland rice–vegetable sequence. The first, second, and third crops in the sequence was planted in May, September, and December, respectively. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replicates. Two upland rice varieties namely NERICA 1 and ITA 150 constituted the main plot treatment while the subplot treatments were dry seeded broadcast, dry seeded dibbled, pre-germinated broadcast, pre-germinated dibbled and transplanted upland rice. The mean plant height, grains panicle^-1, panicles m^-2, 1000 seed weight and grain yield of lowland rice were 130.3 cm, 232, 179, 27.92 g, and 7.31 t ha^-1, respectively. The upland variety ITA 150 had a higher number of hill m^-2 than the NERICA. Pre-germinated broadcast had the highest while dry seeded dibble was the lowest number of hill m^-2. Transplanting significantly increased the number of days (78 days) to heading compared with the other sowing methods, which ranged between 63 and 65 days. Grain yield of the varieties and those of the sowing methods were similar; however, the interaction of variety and sowing methods was significant. NERICA had the highest grain yield in transplanted rice and pre-germinated rice while ITA 150 had the highest in pre-germinated and dry seeded broadcast rice. The fresh leaf weight of the vegetable was 13.99 t ha^-1. Thus, choice of sowing methods depends on rice cultivar. Transplanting or pre-germinated broadcast were the best option for NERICA. Hence the productivity of triple cropping in the IV was enhanced by sowing methods.