EFFECT OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF WHEAT

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Crop Physiology and Ecology farm in Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during the period from November 2011 to April 2012 to study the effect of different doses of nitrogen fertilizer and time of their application on the growth and yield of wheat (BARI Gom 26). Three fertilizer doses viz., 90, 110, and 130 kg N ha’! and three application times viz., total N at basal (T,), 2/3 N at basal + 1/3 N at 20 DAS (T>) and 1/3 N at basal + 1/3 N at 20 DAS + 1/3 N at 45 DAS (T3) were used. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized complete block design with three replications. The size of unit plot was 2m x 1.5m and the date of planting was 28th November 2011. Different doses of nitrogen showed significant variations in respect of all the growth and yield characters of wheat. Plant grown with 130 kg N ha’' gave the highest plant height, spikelet per spike, grain per spike, grain weight per spike, no. of spike per m’, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield, total dry matter content, leaf area index, CGR, LAD, NAR, RGR, days to 50% tillering, booting, heading, anthesis and physiological maturity. The doses of nitrogen may be graded as follows in respect to grain yields, 130 kg ha’ > 110 kg ha! > 90 kg ha! with 3.29 t ha’ > 2.87 t ha’ > 2.61 t ha’. The time of application of nitrogen fertilizer also influenced grain yield, straw yield and other parameters. The time of application may be graded as follows in respect of grain yield as T3>T,>T,. Combined effects of nitrogen rate and application time exhibited significant variations on grain yield; straw yield and ‘other parameters. In respect of grain yield, 130 kg N ha’ with T; gave the maximum grain yield (3.92 t ha’) and the lowest grain yield (2.24 t ha’) was observed from 90 kg N ha! with T,. Moreover, 130 kg N ha’ with T3 gave highest straw yield (6.10 t ha') and 90 kg N ha’ with T,; produced the lowest (4.60 t ha™') straw yield. Therefore, the study revealed that 130 kg N ha’ nitrogen and T; showed best performance on aspect of yield and yield contributing characters on BARI Gom 26.