Vol. 9, Special Issue 1, Part K (2025)

The field experiment titled "The Effect of Seaweed Extracts on Growth, Nutrient Uptake, and Yield Improvement of Transplanted Rice (var. Rajeshwari) in a Vertisol in Chhattisgarh, India" was conducted at the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, during the Kharif season of 2023. The soil in the experimental field was black (Vertisol, locally known as "kanhar") and had a clayey texture, with a neutral pH of 7.47. The experiment was designed as a randomized block design with three replications. It included twelve treatments, which comprised a control group, two separate applications of 75% and 100% of the recommended fertilizer dose (RDF at 120:60:40 kg per hectare for N, P2O5, and K2O), and nine different combinations of soil applications of seaweed extracts. The seaweed extracts used were Kappaphycus sp. and Gracilaria sp., applied as granules at a rate of 25 kg per hectare, along with a foliar spray of seaweed liquid at a concentration of 0.25% with 75% and 100% of the RDF. Based on the experimental findings, it can be concluded that both fertilizer levels and seaweed extracts significantly impact the growth parameters—such as plant height and the number of effective tillers per hill—and yield attributes like panicle length. Additionally, they influence the grain yields (55.0–60.0 q/ha) and straw yields of the rice variety Rajeshwari when granules are applied to the soil at a rate of 25 kg/ha and a foliar spray of seaweed liquid is used at a concentration of 0.25%.