Growth and Yield Components of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as Affected by Variable Planting Methods

Abstract

Background and objective: Planting method plays an important role in the placement of seed at proper depth and distance thereby affecting the germination and plant population dynamics. As a result, it ultimately affects crop growth and yield performance through the influence it has on the competition among plants for limited amount of nutrients in the soil. A study was conducted in 2016 cropping season at experimental site of College of Agriculture, Hawassa University to investigate the effect of planting method on growth performance and grain yield of wheat. Materials and Methods:The treatment studied includes two planting methods (i) conventional-broadcasting and ii) drill planting by using 15cm and 20cm row spacing. The treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatment means were compared through least significant different test at 5%probability level. Results:Analysis of the results revealed that planting method have a significant effect on plant height, number of tiller, fresh weight, dry weight, and grain yield. However, marked difference was not detected on number of spikelet per spike due to planting methods. A row spacing of 20 cm showed higher effective tiller number (8.33), number of spikelet per spike (16.66), dry weight (2.46) and grain yield (3.24) compared with the remaining treatments. Conclusion:Based on the results of the current experiment, it can be concluded that using 20 cm spaced row planting is advantageous for wheat crop production for the study area, provided that all the agronomic practices are kept optimal.

Keywords: Agronomic performance, Grain yield, Growth, Row spacing