EFFECT OF NITROGEN LEVELS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND SEED QUALITY OF WHEAT

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Research Field and Agronomy Laboratory of Shere-Bangla

Agricultural University, Dhaka 1207 during the period from November, 2014 to March, 2015 to evaluate the effect of nitrogen levels on growth, yield and seed quality of wheat. The experiment comprised of five nitrogen levels viz. (i) N = Control (no nitrogen), (ii) N 1 = 25% less nitrogen from the recommended dose, (iii) N 2 0 = Recommended dose of nitrogen, (iv) N 3 = 25% higher nitrogen than recommended dose, (v) N = 50% higher nitrogen than recommended dose and four wheat varieties viz. (i) V 1 4 = BARI gom 21, (ii) V = BARI gom 23 (iii) V 3 = BARI gom 24 and (iv) V = BARI gom 27. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replications. Data were collected on different parameters of growth, yield attributes, yield and seed quality of wheat. Results revealed that N 4 (25% higher nitrogen than recommended dose) gave the highest grain yield (3.41 t ha-1) which was statistically at par with N (recommended dose of nitrogen) (3.29 t ha-1). This might be attributed to highest number of spikes m 2 -2 (194.46), spike length (15.61 cm), number of spikelets spike -1 (20.91), number of grains spike -1 (48.17) and 1000-grain weight (47.08 g). Out of 4 varieties V 3 (BARI gom 24) showed highest grain yield (3.02 t ha ) which was statistically similar with V 4 (BARI gom 27) (2.89 t ha -1 -1 ). The variety BARI gom 27 (V ) also showed higher number of grains spike -1 (46.65) and 1000-grain weight (49.53 g). In respect of seed quality, N (recommended dose) showed higher quality of seed which was statistically similar to N 2 (25% higher nitrogen dose than recommended) because this nitrogen dose gave highest germination percentage (96.67 %), vigor index (10.34), shoot length (19.94cm) and dry weight seedling 3 -1 (0.19 g). In the case of variety, V (BARI gom 27) showed the higher seed quality attributes of germination percentage (95.20%), vigor index (10.52) shoot length (20.51cm) and dry weight seedling -1 (0.18 g). Regarding the interaction of nitrogen doses and varieties, N 2 V 3 , N 2 V 4 and N 3 V were shown best in producing quality seeds. From the above results it was concluded that the recommended dose and 25% higher nitrogen than recommended dose with BARI gom 27 shows better for producing higher yield and quality seed.

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