Effects of Seeding Rate and Row Spacing on Yield and Yield Components of Bread Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) in Gozamin District, East Gojam Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Bread wheat (Ttriticum aestivum L.) is the most important crop in East Gojam Zone and in Ethiopia as well. However, its productivity is very low as compared to the productivity of world bread wheat which is attributed to poor agronomic practices like inappropriate seeding rate, improper adjustment of row spacing, and other factors. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Yebo Farmers Training Center (FTC) in Gozamin District, in East Gojam zone, during 2015 main cropping season.  Four levels of seeding rates (100, 125, 150, and 175 kg ha^-1) and three row spacings (20, 25, and 30 cm) were tested in factorial arrangement in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Phenological, growth, yield and yield related data were collected and their ANOVA was analyzed using SAS 9.1software. Mean separation for significant parameters was done by using least significant difference method. The results showed that almost all the agronomic parameters like days to heading, days to physiological maturity, plant height, effective tiller numbers, spike numbers, biomass yield, grain yield, thousand kernels weight and harvest index were significantly (p<0.05) affected by the main effect of seeding rate and row spacing. Whereas all yield and yield components of bread wheat were not affected by the interaction effect of seeding rate and row spacing. The results of this study indicated the importance of using appropriate seeding rate and row spacing to increase yield of bread wheat in the study area. Hence, Seeding rate of 150 kg ha^-1 gave higher grain yield (4462.10 kg ha^-1) followed by 175 kg ha^-1. Among row spacings 20 cm performed better (4377.8kg ha^-1) as compared to other spacings (3552.3 -3690.1kg ha^-1). Based on the agronomic performance and yield result of this study, 150 kg ha^-1 seeding rate and 20 cm row spacing are preferable. However, further study has to be done under different seasons and locations to exploit the recommendation of the present study.

Keywords: Bread wheat; grain yield; row spacing; seeding rates