Nitrogen Management For Late Sown Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Crop

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season 2016-17 at Crop Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut (U.P.) to evaluate the nitrogen management for late sown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop. The area situated at a latitude of 29o 40′ North and longitude of 77o 42′ East with an elevation of 237 m above mean sea level. The soil of the experimental field was well drained, sandy loam in texture, alkaline in reaction (pH 7.80), low in available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus and potassium with an electrical conductivity 0.25 dS m-1. Eleven treatments comprising Control, RDN for timely as well as late sown wheat with different application schedule were tested in RBD with three replications. The crop was grown with the recommended package and practices for wheat with exception of nitrogen application which was variable. The data on growth, yield and its contributing traits content and uptake of nutrients at various stages along with available N, P, K in soil were estimated as per the standard procedure. The experimental results revealed that growth attributes (plant height, number of tillers, dry matter), yield attributing traits viz., Number of spikelet spike-1, spike length, number of grains spike-1, test weight and biological yield, grain yield, straw yield and uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in wheat differ significantly among different treatments. Growth parameters were significantly better in the treatments where major portion of N was applied during early growth period. The highest grain yield and harvest index was recorded in T8 where 60% of recommended N in accordance to timely sown wheat was applied at sowing. This treatment was found statistically similar to T4, T6 and T10. Growth and yield attributing character were comparatively higher in T8. Available nutrient in soil after harvest of wheat were variable under different treatments. From the study it may be concluded that application of nitrogen in accordance to late sown wheat recommendation is not sufficient and it should be increased. The effect of N application schedule on performance of late sown wheat was observed only with the nitrogen application on the basis of timely sown condition while no significant effect was observed in case of late sown condition.