Data on effect of variety, seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates on growth performance of rice in Southern Guinea Savannah, Nigeria

The age of rice seedling at transplanting and application of nitrogen fertilizer are important husbandry practices for improved rice growth. The data showed the effect of variety, seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates on the growth of rice. Agronomic field trial was conducted during 2015 and 2016 planting seasons at National Cereals Research Institute Farms of Edozhigi and Badeggi located in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria. To assessed the effect of variety, seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates on the growth of rice. Treatments were laid out as split–split plot arrangement fitted into Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The main plot consisted of two rice varieties (FARO 44 and FARO 52), four seedling transplanting ages (7, 14, 21 and 28 days after planting) and five inorganic N fertilizer rates (0, 60, 120, 180 and 240 kg N/ha) constituted the sub-plot and sub-sub plot respectively. Growth data viz plant height, number of tillers and leaf area index were measured at 30 and 45 days after transplanting (DAT) during the two planting seasons. Plant height was taken from five randomly selected and tagged plants from ground surface to the tip of the leaf or panicle of the main stem using measuring tape. The number of tillers per plant was counted from five randomly selected and tagged hills in each plot from two middle rows. .The leaf area (cm2) of the leaves was obtained from five randomly selected tagged plants by measuring the leaf length from the base to the tip with a ruler also the widest part of the leaf. The leaf area (LA) was estimated using the equation: LA = length × breath × 0.75 [1]. The leaf area value obtained was used to calculate the leaf area index (LAI), which describes the efficiency of the photosynthetic process on the photosynthetic surface and calculated as the total leaf area/ground area. Data collected were subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using GenSTAT 11th edition and the difference between treatments mean tested using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. The data are of value to agronomists in search of reference. It has the potential to be used to predict seedling age of rice at transplanting and the appropriate nitrogen fertilizer rate for rice growth.


a b s t r a c t
The age of rice seedling at transplanting and application of nitrogen fertilizer are important husbandry practices for improved rice growth. The data showed the effect of variety, seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates on the growth of rice. Agronomic field trial was conducted during 2015 and 2016 planting seasons at National Cereals Research Institute Farms of Edozhigi and Badeggi located in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria. To assessed the effect of variety, seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates on the growth of rice. Treatments were laid out as split-split plot arrangement fitted into Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The main plot consisted of two rice varieties (FARO 44 and FARO 52), four seedling transplanting ages (7, 14, 21 and 28 days after planting) and five inorganic N fertilizer rates (0, 60, 120, 180 and 240 kg N/ha) constituted the sub-plot and sub-sub plot respectively. Growth data viz plant height, number of tillers and leaf area index were measured at 30 and 45 days after transplanting (DAT) during the two planting seasons. Plant height was taken from five randomly selected and tagged plants from ground surface to the tip of the leaf or panicle of the main stem using measuring tape. The number of tillers per plant was counted from five randomly selected and tagged hills in each plot from two middle rows. .The leaf area (cm 2 ) of the leaves was obtained from five randomly selected tagged plants by measuring the leaf length from the base to the tip with a ruler also the widest part of the leaf. The leaf area (LA) was estimated using the equation: LA = length × breath × 0.75 [1] . The leaf area value obtained was used to calculate the leaf area index (LAI), which describes the efficiency of the photosynthetic process on the photosynthetic surface and calculated as the total leaf area/ground area. Data collected were subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using GenSTAT 11 th edition and the difference between treatments mean tested using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. The data are of value to agronomists in search of reference. It has the potential to be used to predict seedling age of rice at transplanting and the appropriate nitrogen fertilizer rate for rice growth.  Table   Subject Agronomy Specific subject area The data provides baseline information on crop production, crop nutrition and soil fertility Type of data

Value of the Data
• Soil nutrient depletion and inappropriate nitrogen fertilizer use has been responsible for the low growth of rice in Nigeria. Hence, the present data are important as it revealed the effect of variety, seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates on rice growth. • These data will be of tremendous benefit to agronomist, crop nutritionist and soil scientists.
• The data could be used as a reference factor to broaden comparable experiment with a purpose to give similar insight to the effect of variety, nitrogen fertilizer rates and the appropriate age of transplanting rice seedlings.

Description of raw data
The supplementary data indicates the raw dataset of plant height, number of tillers and leaf area index at 30 and 45 days after transplanting for 2015 and 2016 planting seasons. (Exel sheet 1).

Plant height
Plant height was taken from the base of the plants from ground surface to the tip of the leaf or panicle of the main stem using measuring tape at 30 and 45 days after transplanting in 2015 and 2016 planting seasons for the two varieties viz-FARO 52 (variety I) and FARO 44 (variety II). Raw data was collected for the three replications at the two locations viz-Badeggi (site i) and Edozhigi (site ii).

Number of tillers
The number of tillers per plant was counted from five randomly selected and tagged hills in each plot from two middle rows. The raw data was recorded for the three replications and the two locations viz Badeggi (site i) and Edozhigi (siteii) during 2015 and 2016 planting seasons.

Leaf area index
The leaf area (cm 2 ) of the leaves was obtained from five randomly selected tagged plants by measuring the leaf length from the base to the tip with a ruler also the widest part of the leaf. The leaf area value obtained was used to calculate the leaf area index (LAI), which describes the efficiency of the photosynthetic process on the photosynthetic surface and calculated as the total leaf area/ground area. Raw data was collected for the two planting seasons 2015 and 2016. The raw data was recorded for the three replications and the two locations.
The effect of treatment factors (location, nitrogen fertilizer rates, seedling transplanting age and variety) on plant height at 30 and 45 days after transplanting in Badeggi and Edozhigi during 2015 and 2016 planting seasons were presented in Table 1 . Table 2 Table 3 .
On the other hand,soils at Badeggi are sandy loam with bulk density of 1.489 g m . 3 and classified as ultisol (Ayotade and Fagade, 1993). Both sites are located in the Southern Guinea Savannah zone of Nigeria where climate is characterized by a distinct wet season from April to November and dry season from November to March. The relative humidity at dry and raining season ranges between 75-85%. Annual rainfall at the sites ranges between 1,200-1,400 mm and mean temperature of between 23 -33 0 C.
The experimental design indicated that the experiment had three replications in each location. At each site, it was laid out in a split-split plot arrangement fitted into Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) as illustrated in Figs. 1a and 1b .
Treatments consisted of two rice varieties (FARO 52 and FARO 44), four seedling transplanting ages (7, 14, 21 and 28 days after sowing, DAS) and five inorganic N fertilizer rates (0, 60, 120, 180 and 240 kg N/ha). Rice varieties were allocated to the main plot while seedling transplanting age and nitrogen fertilizer rates constituted the sub plot and sub-sub plot, respectively. The size of each main plot was 193.8 m 2 while the sub plot and sub-sub plot were 34.2 m 2 and 5.4 m 2 , respectively. Each sub-sub plot had a dimension of 3 x 1.8 m with alley way of 2.0 m between the main plots, 1.0 m between sub plot, and 1 m between replications. Hence, there were a total of 20 sub-sub plots per replication which gave a total of 60 plots per variety and a total of 120 plots with experimental plot size of 2,184 m 2 for each site.
Basal application of inorganic P and K fertilizers using single super phosphate (SSP) and murate of potash (MOP), respectively were both applied at 40 kg/ha. Nitrogen fertilizer (urea 46% N) was split applied to the experimental plots based on each treatment with half of the various inorganic N fertilizer (urea) rates applied together with the P (single super phosphate SSP) and K (murate of potash) prior to transplanting and manually worked into the soil using hoe while the remaining half was broadcasted at panicle initiation. The flooded field was drained before transplanting. Two rice seedlings were transplanted per hill at a spacing of 20 × 20 cm between and within rows respectively, resulting in a total of 16 rows per plot. The field was flooded after transplanting. Regular weeding was undertaken in the experimental plot using hoe. The experiment was executed for two planting seasons. The data obtained was analysed using GenStat 11 th edition (2008). Data were subjected to one way analysis of varience and LSD was used to compare the mean of the data for significant differences at p < 0.05.

Ethics Statement
Oryza sativa plants were used in this study. Two varieties of Faro 44 and Faro 52 were involved in the experiment

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have or could be perceived to have influenced the work reported in this article.