Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in the experimental farm of Rice Research and Training Center (RRTC) – Sakha, Kafr- El Sheikh Governorate, and Egypt during rice season in 2008 for physiological evaluation of some hybrid rice varieties in different sowing dates. Four hybrid rice H1, H2, GZ 6522 and GZ 6903 were used. Seeds were sown on six different sowing dates April 10^th, April 20^th, May 1^st, May 10^th, May 20^th and June 1^st; and seedlings of 26 days old were transplanted at 20 ´20 cm spacing. All agricultural practices recommended for each cultivar were applied. Nitrogen fertilizer was used as urea (46.5% N) in two splits; that is, 2/3 were added and mixed in dry soil before flooding of irrigation water and the other 1/3 was added at panicle initiation stage. Experimental design was spilt plot design, with sowing dates as main and varieties as sub plot treatments. Results indicated that early date of sowing (April 20^th) was superior to other dates of sowing for  MT,  PI,  HD, number of tillers /M^2, (plant height and root length) at PI and HD stage, chlorophyll content, number of days up to PI and HD, leaf area index, sink capacity , spikelets-leaf area ratio, number of grains / panicle, panicle length(cm), 1000-grain weight (g), number of panicles/ M², panicle weight (g) and grain yield (ton/ha). Sterility percentage was the lowest in sowing 20^th April. 1^st of June, sowing gave the lowest with all traits under study. H1 hybrid rice variety surpassed other varieties for all characters studied except for number of days to PI and HD.

Key words: Sowing dates, hybrid rice, physiological characters and yield.