THE RESPONSE OF DWARF WHEAT VARIETIES ( T r i t i c u m a e s t i v u m L.) TO DIFFERENT WATER STRESS LEVELS, DATES OF SOWING AND NITROGEN FERTILIZATION
THE RESPONSE OF DWARF WHEAT VARIETIES ( T r i t i c u m a e s t i v u m L.) TO DIFFERENT WATER STRESS LEVELS, DATES OF SOWING AND NITROGEN FERTILIZATION
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Date
1994-10
Authors
FALAKI, Ahmed Mustapha
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Abstract
Two field experiments involving (a) Sowing date x Water
Stress x Variety and (b) Nitrogen level and Water stress were
conducted at the Irrigation Research Station, Kadawa (11°
39'N, 08° 02'E and 500m above sea level), Institute for
Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The
Irrigation station is located in the Sudan Savanna ecological
zone of northern Nigeria. The investigations were carried
out for three consecutive years during 1983/84 to 1985/86 dry
seasons (October to March) to study the effect of time of
planting, water stress on two varieties in the first
experiment and nitrogen fertilization and water stress in the
second experiment. A supporting experiment was also conducted
under growth chamber condition at the Hydrotechnical
Laboratory of Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University,
Copenhagen (Denmark) to monitor crucial parameters related to
soil and plant water status.
Delay in sowing wheat from 10th November to 1st and 22nd
December significantly reduced grain yield by 14.8 and 20.8
percent, respectively. Grain yield and yield components were
significantly reduced by increase in water stress using IW/CPE
(Irrigation water/Cummulative pan evaporation) ratio of 1.00
(no stress), 0.75 (moderate stress) and 0.50 (severe stress).
Moderately and severely stressed crop produced 19.7 and 46.0
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percent lower grain yield respectively when compared with
unstressed control (IW/CPE ratio = 1.0). Response of the
grain yield to N fertilization was quadratic. The optimum
level of N worked out to be 120kg/ha. Wheat variety 'Siete
Cerros' significantly outyielded 'Sonalika' in terms of grain
yield, yield components and water-use efficiency (WUE), which
decreased with delay in sowing and with increased water
stress. Nitrogent application increased WUE linearly up to
150kg/ha.
In the sowing date x water stress experiment, there was
a positive and very close association between grain yield with
1000-grain weight followed by spikes/m2 and number of
grains/spike. Whereas in nitrogen x water stress experiment,
a high association was observed between grain yield with
number of grains/spike followed closely by spikes/m2. The
correlation between the grain yield and 1000-grain weight was
not as strong compared with the other two components
Except in one experiment, in both sowing date and water
stress treatments, there was a negative linear response
between the grain yield and the two treatments, whereas in
nitrogen x water stress treatment a quadratic response was
found to be significant for nitrogen in all the 3 years and
combined data analysis. The response to water stress level
was quadratic in the first two seasons and linear in the third
season and combined analysis.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Postgraduate school,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in partial fulfillment
of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agronomy
DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
RESPONSE,, DWARF,, WHEAT,, VARIETIES,, T r i t i c u m a e s t i v u m L., DIFFERENT,, WATER,, STRESS,, LEVELS,, DATES,, SOWING,, NITROGEN,, FERTILIZATION