GRAIN GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT AS INFLUENCED BY VARIETY AND SOWING DATE

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Agronomy field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka from November 2012 to April 2013. The experiment consisted of two factors: Factor A: Variety viz. BARI Gom-21 (V1), BARI Gom-24 (V2), BARI Gom-25 (V3) and BARI Gom-26 (V4) and Factor B: Sowing date viz. sowing at 20 November (S1), sowing at 1December (S2) and sowing at 12 December (S3) following RCB design with three replications. It was evident from the results that morpho-physiological and yield contributing characters of wheat were significantly influenced by different genotypes, sowing dates and their interactions. In respect of effect of genotypes, BARI Gom-26 and BARI Gom- 25 performed better in yield and other yield contributing characters than others. Among the genotypes, BARI Gom-24 and BARI Gom-25 showed lowest initial lag phase duration (8 DAA and 12 DAA, respectively) while BARI Gom-21 showed the highest (16 DAA). Sowing at 1 December exhibited the highest grain growth rate than November 20 and December 12 sowing date. BARI Gom-26 maintained the highest average grain growth rate (0.5051 mg/grain) and BARI Gom-21 (Shatabdi) showed the lowest (0.3209 mg /grain). Sowing at 1 December showed the highest average growth rate (0.5647 mg /grain). The lowest average growth rate was recorded in 20 November sowing and 12 December sowing (0.3795 mg/grain and 0.3397 mg /grain). The maximum average grain growth rate was obtained from the combination of BARI Gom-26 with 1 December sowing (0.6997 mg/grain). For 20 November sowing, BARI Gom-24 gave the highest fertile tillers per m2 (228.0), dry grain wt. after anthesis (0.431g), grains per spike (42.78) and yield (3.55 t/ha) whereas BARI Gom-21 gave the lowest (190.3, .270g, 38.78 and 2.67 t/ha, respectively). For December 1 sowing, BARI Gom-25 gave the highest yield (4.60 t/ha) whereas BARI Gom-21 gave the lowest (2.67t/ha). For 12 December sowing, BARI Gom-21 attained maximum yield (3.22 t/ha), fertile tillers per m2 (226.3) and minimum dry grain wt. after anthesis (0.286 g) whereas BARI Gom-25 gave the lowest yield (2.99 t/ha). The highest yield (4.60 t/ha) was observed at intermediate sowing by BARI Gom-25 followed by BARI Gom-26 (4.53 t/ha) at December 1 sowing.