EFFECT OF IRRIGATION AND FOLIAR SPRAY OF POTASSIUM ON MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGY AND YIELD OF WHEAT

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the Research Farm and Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology Department, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh during 2015 - 2016 and 2016 - 2017 to study the effect of irrigation levels and yield of wheat and to find out morpho-physiological traits yield of wheat and to find out suitable concentration of potassium for foliar application in alleviating the adverse effect of drought on wheat. Four levels of irrigations (i) I0 - No irrigation (control), (ii) I1 - Irrigation with 3200 m3 ha-1 , (iii) I2 - Irrigation with 3800 m3 ha-1 and (iv) I3 - Irrigation with 4400 m3 ha-1 water and four levels of potassium such as (i) K0 - The recommended dose of potassium i.e. 50 kg K ha-1 in the form of KCl (control) (ii) K1-50% of the recommended dose of potassium i.e. 25 kg K ha-1 in the form of KCl + Foliar spray with 1% K2O using K2SO4 (iii) K2-50% of the recommended dose of potassium i.e. 25 kg K ha-1 in the form of KCl + Foliar spray with 2% K2O using K2SO4 and (iv) K3-50% of the recommended dose of potassium i.e. 25 kg K ha-1 in the form of KCl + Foliar spray with 3% K2O using K2SO4 were imposed as experimental treatments. Two wheat varieties, namely, BARI Gom 27 and BARI Gom 28 were tested for the above mentioned parameters. The experiment was laid out in a split-split plot design with 3 replications. Irrigation and potassium treatments had significant effects on all the above mentioned parameters in both the years. The plants irrigated with 4400 m3 ha-1 water needed the highest days for attaining their different phenological stages. The highest crop growth, morpho physiological traits, water consumption, chlorophyll content, yield contributing characters, potassium content of grain and straw and yield of wheat were exhibited in the crops irrigated with 3800 m3 ha-1 water in both the years. With some exceptions, varieties had no significant effects on all the above mentioned parameters in the study. Among the potassium treatments, the highest crop growth, morpho-physiological traits, yield contributing characters, potassium ontent of grain and straw and yield were recorded in treatment K2 (K2-50% of the recommended rate of K for the variety i.e. 25 kg K ha1 in the form of KCl + Foliar spray with 2% K2O using K2SO4) in both the years. Simple correlation coefficients between the yield contributing characters and grain yield for different irrigation and potassium treatments indicated that grain yield was positively correlated with most of the yield components. Wheat cultivation with 3800 m3 ha-1 water and potassium spray with 2% K2O using K2SO4 along with 50% of basal dose of K gave the highest crop growth, morpho-physiological traits, water consumption, yield contributing characters, grain and straw yield which was statistically similar with irrigations with 4400 m3 ha-1 water and potassium spray with 2% K2O using K2SO4 along with 50% of basal dose in both the years.