ABSTRACT
Rice production is highly influenced by the prevailing weather conditions, physico-chemical properties of the soil, the yielding potential of cultivars besides, several crop management practices and inputs. To understand the performance of the tiller production of various paddy cultivars under varying soil texture sites of the south-western Punjab, four rice cultivars viz., PR121 (V1), PAU201 (V2), PR128 (V3) and PR129 (V4) were grown at three different locations having soil texture from light to heavy. Sowing of nursery was completed between May 15, 2019 and May 23, 2019 however, seedlings were transplanted in the well prepared field during 05-20 June, 2019. Results of the present study clearly depicted the role of weather parameters on plant height, effective tillers, grain yield and spikelet sterility in the rice crop. High temperatures have detrimental effects on fertility of rice varieties, regardless the transplanting time. Among different rice cultivars, sterility was the lowest (17.8%) in PR121 and the highest 42.6% in PR129. Apart from the varietal differences, the lowest sterility 28.4% recorded in medium textured soil was lowered by 21.5% and 27.8% than light and high textured soils. Cultivar PR121 produced 3.9%, 7.7% and 15% higher grain yield than PR128, PAU201 and PR129, respectively. The response of anthesis period thermal stress on spikelet sterility should be considered to develop the temperature tolerant varieties for addressing the climate change issues.