Influence of sulphur aerosols on physiological, yield and yield attributing of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using principal component analysis

Abstract

Among several constrains curtailing the yield potential of a crop, lack of proper mineral nutrition in particular sulphur management, a nutrient that is needed in trace amount but essential for plant growth is more alarming. Sulphur is the main source of protein particularly for cereal crop. An experiment was conducted to find out influence of sulphur aerosols on morpho-physiological, yield, and yield traits of wheat. S-aerosols viz., (NH4)2SO4, CaSO4, and K2SO4: @ 300 ppm each (?30 kg N ha-1) along with a control were misted on the plants, on sunny days in the afternoon (after 2–3 P.M.) at three different growth stages i.e. seedling, maximum tillering and spike initiation stages. Therefore, a total concentration of each S-aerosols was 900 ppm ? 0.9%.Genotypes (viz., GW-322, GW-366, GW-273, GW-173, JW-336) were raised both under Pot culture (Expt.1) and field (Expt.2) observations recorded are : LA, LAI, SLW, Tiller numbers, No. of seed per spike, length of spike, spike weight, TW, BY, EY, HI. The investigation was carried out aiming to test the hypothesis that foliar fed Sulphur aerosols influence economic yield of wheat crop positively. The genotype GW-366 was the most responsive in physiological traits and GW-273 for yield traits under the influence of foliar fertilization with S-aerosols. Among the S-aerosols, (NH4)2SO4 was the most effective in the work. The results in this experiment are contribution of Sulphur aerosols using PCA towards total diversity.