Morpho-Agronomic Characterization of Twelve Upland Rice Cultivars in DR-Congo Oxisols — Oak Academic Publishing
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Morpho-Agronomic Characterization of Twelve Upland Rice Cultivars in DR-Congo Oxisols
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Official University of Mbujimayi (UOM), Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Official University of Mbujimayi (UOM), Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Official University of Mbujimayi (UOM), Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
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National Institute for Agricultur al Studies and Research (INERA), Scientific Direction, INERA General Directorate, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
1 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Official University of Mbujimayi (UOM), Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
2 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Official University of Mbujimayi (UOM), Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
3 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Official University of Mbujimayi (UOM), Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
4 National Institute for Agricultur al Studies and Research (INERA), Scientific Direction, INERA General Directorate, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
A field study was conducted during the 2025B growing season (February 17 to June 18, 2025) in the Ngandajika territory of the DRC to evaluate the morpho-agronomic potential of 12 rice genotypes under varying soil fertility management. The experiment, located at two sites—Mpoyi (Site 1) and the INERA Ngandajika station (Site 2) utilized a factorial design in Randomized Complete Blocks (RCBs) with two factors: fertilization (no fertilizer control vs. NPK 17-17-17 at 200 kg/ha) and 12 rice varieties. Each site featured two blocks (fertilized and unfertilized) with three replicates. Experimental units measured 2 m × 2 m (4 m 2 ) with 0.5 m spacing between plots and 1 m between blocks, for a total block area of 270 m 2 (30 m × 9 m). Fertilizer application significantly increased yields compared to the control: 1224 kg ha ? 1 (Site 1) and 1211 kg ha ? 1 (Site 2) with fertilizer, versus 1125 kg ha ? 1 (Site 1) and 1079 kg ha ? 1 (Site 2) without, while the site effect was minimal. Improved varieties showed superior performance across both conditions. Under fertilized conditions, NERICA4 (1843 kg ha ? 1 ) performed best, followed statistically by IRAT112 (1837 kg ha ? 1 ) and NERICA7 (1835 kg ha ? 1 ), all of which outperformed INERA7 (1760 kg ha ? 1 ), LIENGE (1753.3 kg ha ? 1 ), and BOSAU (1737 kg ha ? 1 ). Without fertilizer, IRAT112 (1692 kg ha ? 1 ) was the top performer, followed by NERICA4 (1667 kg ha ? 1 ), BOSAU (1653 kg ha ? 1 ), INERA7 (1652 kg ha ? 1 ), and NERICA7 (1627 kg ha ? 1 ). While these yields are lower than intensive irrigated systems (5000 - 7000 kg ha ? 1 ), they are comparable to West African regional averages for upland rice (1600 - 3000 kg ha ? 1 ).
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