EFFECT OF BORON ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) (BARI Gom 28)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in the Soil Science research field of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during the period of December 2016 to April 2017 in order to investigate the effect of different levels of Boron (B) on the growth, yield and yield contributing characteristics of wheat (BARI Gom 28). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) having seven treatments with three replications. The treatments were as follows; T1 = 0 kg B ha-1 (control), T2 = 0.5 kg B ha-1, T3 =1.0 kg B ha-1, T4 =1.5 kg B ha-1, T5 = 2.0 kg B ha-1, T6 =2.5 kg B ha-1, T7 =3.0 kg B ha-1. Total amount of TSP, MOP, gypsum, and 1/3 urea fertilizers were applied as basal @ 140, 105, 117, 160 kg ha-1 and boron was applied several treatments respectively at the time of final land preparation. The rest urea were splited into two equal amounts and applied at crown root initiation stage and booting stages. The experimental soil belongs to the Old Himalayan Piedmont Plain (AEZ-1). The soil was sandy loam in texture having pH 5.6, organic matter content 1.58%, total N 0.08%, available P 59.72 ppm, exchangeable K 0.21 meq100 g-1 soil, available S 7.01 ppm and available B 0.76 ppm content in the soil. The experimental results were statistically significant to plant height, spike length, number of plants m-2, number of spikelets spike-1, number of grains spike-1 , grain yield, straw yield, biological yield except 1000-grain weight. The results revealed that the highest plant height (94.87 cm) was observed in T3 treatment and the lowest (89.60 cm) was found in the control T1 treatment. The maximum number of plants (337.2 m-2) was obtained in the treatment T3 and minimum (270.7) was found in the control T1 treatment. The highest number of grain (42.10) was found in the treatment T3 and the lowest number of grain (36.23) was recorded in the control T1 treatment. Grain yield and straw yield of wheat plants were significantly influenced with the application of B. It was found that the application of (1.0 kg B ha-1) produced the highest grain (4.23 t ha-1) and straw (4.13 t ha-1) yield. The control treatment produced the lowest grain (2.37 t ha-1) and straw (3.0 t ha-1) yield. The findings of the study showed that the performance of the treatment T3 was the best among the other treatments in respects of yield and yield contributing characters of wheat. Therefore, the overall results indicate that the application of (1.0 kg B ha-1) can be more efficient and economic for wheat cultivation.