Winter wheat fertilizing using nitrogen–sulphur fertilizer

Abstract

Precise field experiments were established on two sites with winter wheat under different soil-climatic conditions in the Czech Republic. Four treatments were fertilized with same dose of nitrogen (200 kg N ha−1) and increasing dose of sulphur (0, 10, 20 and 40 kg S ha−1) using nitrogen–sulphur (N–S) fertilizer with calcium sulphate form. Soil and plant aboveground biomass samples were taken in the stages of development BBCH 26–28; 30–32; 37–39; 49–51. The winter wheat grain yield ranged between 7.20 and 10.86 t ha−1 and had an increasing trend with increasing sulphur dose. Although the differences were usually not statistically significant, there were found increasing tendencies of bioavailable sulphur content in soil with increasing S split doses. Soil S content decreased with time probably due to plant uptake. Sulphur dose did not influence the S content in plant aboveground biomass. The total S contents in grain after harvest ranged between 0.09% and 0.14% and were not significantly influenced with the fertilizing treatment. The same statement is valid for the S content in straw, which ranged between 0.03% and 0.11%. Both, S content in winter wheat seeds and straw were strongly influenced by the site conditions.