A field experiment was conducted on rice variety IR-6 to determine the most appropriate planting technique for saline sodic soils. Tillering and strawyield was improved with direct seeding or increasing the number of seedlings to 4 hill-I in a saline sodic soil as compared to normal practice of planting 2 seedlings hill-I. Paddy yield and paddy straw ratio also improved by direct seeding. Concentration of Na + and Cl- decreased progressively with increasing the number of seedlings hill-t and because of direct seeding. Various treatments did not affect the concentration of P, K and Zn in rice tissues, Nevertheless, K:Na and Zn:P ratios were better due to increased plant density on a unit area.
