Effect of seed rate and irrigation level on the performance of wheat cv. Gourab

The effect of seed rate and irrigation level on the performance of wheat cv. Gourab was studied. The experiment comprises of two factors namely (1) four seed rate viz. 100, 120, 140 and 160 kgha-1 and (2) four levels of irrigation namely (i) no irrigation i.e. control, (ii) one irrigation given at Crown root initiation (CRI) stage, (iii) two irrigations given at CRI and Panicle initiation stages and (iv) three irrigation given at CRI, panicle initiation and grain filling stages. All of the yields contributing characters were significantly affected by seed rate except 1000-grain weight. The highest plant height (82.36 cm), total tillers plant-1(8.99), effective tillers plant-1(3.49) , spike length (8.05 cm), spikelets spike-1 (15.50), filled grain spike-1 (31.05), grain yield (2.82 t ha-1), straw yield (3.73 t ha-1), biological yield (6.55 t ha-1) and harvest index (42.43%) were recorded from the seed rate of 140 kg ha-1. Most of the yields contributing characters were significant due to effect of irrigation level. The highest plant height (82.33 cm), spike length (8.37 cm), filled grain spike-1 (31.90), effective tillers plant-1 (3.31), grain yield (3.30 t ha-1), straw yield (4.09 t ha-1), biological yield(7.39 t ha-1) and harvest index (44.47%) were recorded when one irrigation given at CRI stage . The interaction between seed rate and irrigation level influenced significantly all the plant characters except plant height, spikelets spike-1 and 1000-grains weight. The highest spike length (8.63 cm), grain yield (3.70 t ha-1), biological yield (8.06 t ha-1) and harvest index (45.91%) were found from the seed rate of 140 kg ha-1 combined with one irrigation applied at CRI stage. So it may be stated that the seed rate of 140 kg ha-1 with one irrigation given at CRI stage may be practiced for better performance of wheat cv. Gourab. Keyword: Seed rate; Irrigation level; Gourab DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i1.4797 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(1): 47-52, 2009