Effect of Seed Rate on the Grain Yield Potential of Winter Cereals Under Rainfed Conditions of Peshawar
Aman Ullah
Department of Agronomy NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar-Pakistan e-mail: draman_agronomist@yahoo.com
Abstract
In order to study the effect of four different seed rates (40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha-1) on the grain yield and other characters of five varieties each of wheat (BARS-II, Azri-96, Haider-2000, Daman-98 and Suleman-96) and barley (Sanober, Awaran, Surab-96, Nul-03 and Line-232) under rainfed conditions of Peshawar experiments were designed and planted at the Agriculture Research Farm of the NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar during winter 2004-05.
In wheat, plant height ranged significantly from a minimum of 95 to a maximum of 104 cm using seed rate of 120 and 40 kg ha-1, respectively. Similarly spikes m-2 ranged from a minimum of 104 to a maximum of 130, grains per spike form 40 to 43, 1000 seed weight from 35.90 to 42.69 g, biological yield from 3704 to 5337 kg ha-1, and grain yield from 1523 to 2285 kg ha-1 with seed rate of 40 and 80 kg ha-1, respectively. Variety BARS-II produced the shortest plants (95 cm), lightest seeds (35.90 g/1000 seeds), lowest spike m-2 (94), grains spike-1 (40), biological yield (3074 kg ha-1) and grain yield (1298 kg ha-1). Tallest plants (106 cm) and highest biological yield (5567 kg ha-1) was produced by variety Suleman-96, while maximum number of spikes m-2 (130) and grains spike-1 (44) were recorded for variety Daman-98 and Haider-2000, respectively. Variety Haider-2000 ranked first by producing the highest grain yield of 2385 kg ha-1 followed by variety Daman-98 (2222 kg ha-1).
In barley, plant height ranged significantly from a minimum of 74 to a maximum of 79 cm using seed rate of 160 and 40 kg ha-1, respectively. Plots sown with seed rate of 40 kg ha-1 produced the lightest seeds (52.35 g/1000 seeds), lowest spike m-2 (116), grains spike-1 (32), biological yield (3674 kg ha-1) and grain yield (1376 kg ha-1) while, plots sown with seed rate of 120 kg ha-1 produced the heaviest seed (59.29/1000 seeds), maximum number of spikes m-2 (139), highest biological yield (5434 kg ha-1) and grain yield (2150 kg ha-1). Maximum number of 36 grains spike-1 was recorded in plots sown with seed rate of 160 kg ha-1. Line-232 produced the shortest plants (70 cm), lightest seeds (53.69 g/1000 seeds), lowest spike m-2 (108), grains spike-1 (32), biological yield (3276 kg ha-1) and grain yield (1252 kg ha-1). Variety Surab produced the tallest plants (81 cm) and variety Nul-03 produced the highest number of spikes m-2 (142). Variety Sanober ranked first by producing the highest number of grains spike-1 (36), the heaviest seeds (59.31 g/1000 seeds), maximum biological yield (5431 kg ha-1) and grain yield (2223 kg ha-1).
It is recommended that high yielding varieties of wheat Haider-2000 and Daman-98 must be sown at seed rate of 80 kg ha-1 and barley varieties Sanober and Awaran must be sown at seed rate of 120 kg ha-1 to get high yield and maximum net income under the rainfed conditions of Peshawar.
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