Effect of Seed Rate and Irrigation Interval on Yield Components and Yield of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) at Mekane Selam District, South Wollo, Ethiopia

Nuru Seid Tehulie

doi:10.7176/jbah/11-1-02

Abstract

Determination of optimum seed rate and planning suitable irrigation strategy are important practices to increase productivity of wheat under irrigation. Thus, a study was undertaken to determine the effects of irrigation intervals (5, 8, 11 and 14 days) and seed rate (75, 100, 125 and 150 kg ha -1 ) on yield components and yield of bread wheat during 2019 cropping season (November to April). Wheat variety ADEL-6 was used as test crop. The experimental design was split plot design with three replications using irrigation interval as the main plot factor and seed rate as sub-plot factor. Results showed that the interaction effect of irrigation interval and seed rate had highly significant (p<0.01) effect on number of total tillers, effective tillers, grain yield, aboveground dry biomass yield, straw yield and harvest index. The highest number of total tillers (54.33) and effective tillers (49.33) per 0.5 m mid length row were obtained from the seed rate of 150 kg ha -1 with irrigation interval of 5 days. On the other hand, the highest grain yield (5.40 t ha -1 ), the highest biomass yield (13.34 t ha -1 ) and the highest straw yield (7.95 t ha -1 ) were obtained from seed rate of 100 kg ha -1 and irrigation interval of 11 days which were statistically at par with the seed rate of 100 kg ha -1 and irrigation interval of 8 days. The partial budget analysis also showed that the highest net benefit (37375 Birr ha -1 ) was recorded from the combination of seed rate of 100 kg ha -1 and irrigation interval of 11 days followed by seed rate of 100 kg ha -1 and irrigation interval of 8 days with net benefit of 34156 Birr ha -1 . Thus, from the result of the study, it can tentatively be concluded that use of 100 kg ha -1 seed rate and irrigation interval ranging from 8 to 11 days can improve the productivity of bread wheat in the study area. Keywords: Field capacity, irrigation frequency, seed rate DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-1-02 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Highlights

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the important grain crops produced worldwide and is a staple food for about one third of the world’s population
The dalliance in days to heading with frequent irrigation interval may be due to excessive frequency of irrigation which was 11 times applied during the growth period which enhanced vegetative growth
The delayed heading with the lowest seed rate might be due to less competition for growth resources within plants

Summary

Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the important grain crops produced worldwide and is a staple food for about one third of the world’s population. Wheat flour has many uses, but its main use is to make bread, a staple food for many people around the world (Hussain and Shah, 2002). Important wheat producing countries include China, India, United States, Russia and France. Wheat is primarily used as a staple food providing more protein than any other cereal crop (Iqtidar et al, 2006). Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) accounts for more than 90% of global wheat production and is grown on a substantial scale (over 100,000 ha) in more than 70 countries on 5 continents (Lantican et al, 2005)

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Conclusion