Hydrogel-based Trichoderma formulation effects on different varieties of rice under rainfed condition of Indo-Gangetic Plains

Increased global CO 2 emissions may result in erratic weather conditions, especially uncertain, pertaining to rainfall uncertainties and temperature anomalies, and could reduce India’s overall rice production by 3–10% under medium- to high-emission scenarios. The water crises nowadays have been prioritized as one of the top five global risks. Further, the uncertainties in rice production due to climate change will be more than just rice yield reductions. Several adoption strategies such as direct seeding, selecting water stress-tolerant varieties, enhancing soil water-holding capacity and improving crop management practices, are suggested to address the risks of rice production. Keeping in view the above fact, a field experiment was initiated during kharif season of 2015 and 2016 at Agricultural Research Farm (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (India), to assess the effect of super-absorbent polymer (hydrogel) and Trichoderma in rice varieties with six hydrogel-based Trichoderma -formulated treatments. The results indicated that Trichoderma was found effective in improving crop growth, yield, nutrient uptake and water use efficiency with the application of hydrogel. It was also found that soil amendment with hydrogel at 2 g m −2 and sowing of Trichoderma -treated seed at 10 g kg −1 seed significantly improved the crop growth parameters (viz . shoot dry weight by 6.45%), yield parameters (viz . number of productive tillers by 12.32%, number of grains per panicle by 8.26%), nutrients uptake and water use efficiency (by 24.15%) over control. The present study reveals that the use of hydrogel with Trichoderma fungus is found effective in enhancing the growth and yield parameters of rice in Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs).