Strategic Variety and Seedling Management for Enhancing Rice Productivity in Coastal Saline Ecosystem

Abstract

Climate change accelerated the intensity and frequency of occurrences of salinity in the coastal region of Bangladesh. Increasing soil salinity is one of the major limiting factors that negatively affect rice yields. The adoption of salt-tolerant inbred and hybrid rice varieties and a higher adaptive capacity for seedling management options can enhance rice productivity and profitability. To enhance productivity and profitability, on-farm experiments were conducted over two years in coastal saline soils using a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. The study evaluated salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive inbred and hybrid rice varieties under two seedling management options: recommended seedlings at standard density versus older seedlings at a higher planting density. The agronomic results revealed that adopting salt-tolerant varieties significantly increased grain yields compared to salt-sensitive varieties. Furthermore, combining salt-tolerant inbred or hybrid varieties with older seedlings at a higher planting density maximized crop productivity. Multi-location validation trials confirmed that this integrated crop management package yielded a higher gross margin across diverse production environments. This technological package can be promoted in the rice-rice and rice-fish (ghers) farming systems to boost climate resilience. However, prior to large-scale regional dissemination, this package of salt-tolerant varieties and optimized seedling management should be systematically evaluated across diverse saline soil gradients to ensure stable, widespread performance.

SAARC J. Agric., 24(1): 301-318 (2026)