Vol. 10, Issue 5 (2021)

Author(s):
Maharaj Singh, UP Shahi, Shakti Om Pathak, Brijesh Kumar Pandey and Aryan Baliyan

Abstract:
A field experiment entitled “Effect of different irrigation levels and moisture conservation techniques on growth attributes, yield, yield attributes and economic of wheat (Triticum aestivum)”was carried out at the Crop Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut, U.P. during Rabi season of 2018-19. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design considering the irrigation levels as main plot and moisture conservation techniques as sub plot with three replications. The irrigation levels consisted of I1– (5 irrigations at CRI, tillering, booting, milking and dough stage), I2– (3 irrigation at CRI, tillering and booting stage), I3– (2 irrigation at CRI and booting stage) and moisture conservation techniques consisted M1 – Control (no moisture conservation techniques), M2 - Rice residues @ 5 ton ha-1), M3 - application of Pusa hydrogel (3kg /Acre), M4- seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens (PF6) @ 4 g kg-1 seed, M5- Seed treatment with Pseudomonas fluorescens (PF2) @ 4 g kg-1 seed and M6- Seed treatment with (IRRI-1) @ 4 g kg-1 seed. The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture, low in available nitrogen and organic carbon, medium in available phosphorus, potassium, zinc and alkaline in reaction. Wheat variety HD- 2967 was grown as a test crop. Result reveal that plant height, dry matter accumulation increased with I1 (5 irrigation) and I2 (3 irrigation). Among the yield attributes number of grains per spike, spike length (cm), numbers of spikelet per spike and test weight increased significantly in I1 (5 irrigation).The improvement in grain yield 8.74 and 17.38% over I2 and I3 respectively was due to maximum supply of water under I1 (5 irrigation). Among the moisture conservation techniques, the higher plant height, dry matter accumulation and yield attributes characters were recorded with the application of rice residue @ 5 ton ha-1. Maximum gross return was observed in treatment combination I1M2 (5irrigation with rice residues@ 5 ton ha-1). Among treatments, maximum net return and B: C ratio was recorded under I1M2 (Five irrigation with rice residues @ 5 ton ha-1. Among the microbial inoculate PF-6 was found better in all parameters. Mulching resulted a storage of 2.0% more soil moisture in the root zone of the crop over rest of treatments, indicating better microclimate for crop growth and development.