| dc.description.abstract | The development of upland rice is one of the strategic steps to support and increase
rice production nationally. A common problem encountered to increase upland rice
productivity is that the source of water depends only on rainfall. Severe and
prolonged water shortage causes plants to experience drought stress. Each plant
variety responds to the level of soil water content. This research tries to study the
vegetative growth response of upland rice at different levels of soil moisture
content. Observations of these responses include anatomical, morphological, and
physiological changes. This research aims to study the growth response of two
upland rice varieties (Oryza sativa L.) to different levels of soil moisture content.
This research was conducted in Greenhouse Experimental Field, Faculty of
Agriculture, University of North Sumatra at an altitude of ± 32 m above sea level,
from December 2023 to January 2024. This study used a factorial Randomized
Group Design (RAK) method with 2 treatment factors. The first factor is the variety
with 2 levels, namely Sertani and Trisakti varieties. Then the second factor is the
intensity of drought stress with 3 levels, namely soil moisture content of 40% field
capacity, soil moisture content of 60% field capacity, soil moisture content of 80%
field capacity. The results showed that the decrease in soil moisture content did not
provide differences in response between Sertani and Trisakti varieties on the
anatomy, mophology and physiology of upland rice plants. A decrease in soil
moisture content from 80% to 40% of field capacity will reduce the morphology of
rice plants (plant height, number of leaves, root volume, wet weight of plants and
roots, dry weight of plants and roots), as well as the anatomy of rice plants (leaf
area, leaf greenness, leaf thickness, length and width of leaf bullifoorm cells,
cuticle, stem epidermis, length and width of stomata and stomatal density). A
decrease in soil moisture content from 80% to 40% will increase the root length of
rice plants. The interaction between different soil moisture content treatments with
two rice varieties will reduce plant height. | en_US |
