GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT AS INFLUENCED BY TIME OF IRRIGATION AND SPLIT APPLICATION OF NITROGEN

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the experimental site of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU) during the period from December, 2007 to March, 2008 to study the growth and yield of wheat as influenced by time of irrigation and split application of nitrogen . The treatments comprised (A) three irrigation levels (i) no irrigation, (ii) one irrigation given at crown root initiation stage, (iii) two irrigations, one at crown root initiation stage and another at panicle initiation stage and (B) four split application of nitrogen viz. (i) no nitrogen application, (ii) one basal application of nitrogen at the time of sowing, (iii) two equal split- one at basal and another at 30 DAS, (iv) three equal split- one at basal, one at 30 DAS and the other at 60 DAS and (C) their combination effect. It was observed that the highest plant height, number of tillers/plant, leaf area index (LAI), fresh weight plant , dry weight plant -1 , spike length, number of spikelets spike -1 -1 , number of grains spike , 1000 seed weight, total grain yield, straw yield and harvest index were obtained with the application of irrigation and nitrogen. In case of the combined effect on irrigation and split application of nitrogen, the tallest plant (96.37 cm), highest number of tillers/plant (4.50), highest leaf area index (2.71), highest fresh weight (66.97g) and dry weight (36.56g) plant -1 , longest spike length (17.35 cm), highest number of spikelets spike -1 (60.00) and highest number of grains spike -1 1 (39.33), highest 1000 seed weight (48.50g), total grain yield (4.30 t ha ), straw yield (5.82 t ha -1 ) and harvest index (42.49%) were obtained with the combination of two irrigations with three split application of nitrogen. So, it may be concluded that the treatment combination of two irrigations at crown root initiation and panicle initiation with three splits of nitrogen one each at basal, 30 DAS and 60 DAS considered as the best treatment compared to all other treatments and it can be recommended for further trial.