Effect of Irrigations and Fertilizers Management on Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under Different Date of Sowing

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India during the winter season of 2015–16, to study the effect of different irrigation and fertilizer levels on wheat variety MP 3288. The experiment comprises of under three sowing dates  (2^nd December, 22^nd December and 12^th January), irrigations schedules (Three irrigations at CRI+flowering stage+milk stage and Four irrigations at CRI+late jointing stage+flowering stage+milk stage) and four fertility levels (No fertilizer, 60 N kg ha^-1:30 P₂O₅ kg ha^-1:20 k₂O kg ha^-1, 120 N kg ha^-1:60 P₂O₅ kg ha^-1:40 k₂O kg ha^-1 and 180 N kg ha^-1:90 P₂O₅ kg ha^-1:60 k₂O kg ha^-1). Sowing time with proper application of irrigation and fertilizer significantly influenced yield attributes and ultimately yield of the wheat. Superior grain yield (2.98, 2.49 and 3.43 t ha^-1) was observed under crop was sown on 2^nd December with application of four irrigation and 180 N kg ha^-1: 90 P₂O₅ kg ha^-1:60 k₂O kg ha^-1 over rest of the treatments. The crop sown on 2^nd December produced highest yield, mainly because it had the maximum plant height (92.72 cm), number of effective tillers (297.83 m^-2), length of ear head (7.90 cm), no. of grains per earhead (34.46) and 1000 grain weight (41.61 g), harvest index (32.95%), net income (60234 Rs. ha^-1) over other sowing dates. The production efficiency was also highest with 2^nd December (25.50 kg ha^-1 day^-1) sowing with four irrigation (21.30 kg ha^-1 day^-1) and 180 N kg ha^-1:90 P₂O₅ kg ha^-1:60 k₂O kg ha^-1 (29.30 kg ha^-1 day^-1). The lowest production efficiency was recorded on 12^th January (19.40 kg ha^-1 day^-1) in the three irrigation and lower dose of fertilizer.