Vol. 11, Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Vivek Pratap Singh, Padmanabh Dwivedi and Sreyashi Kashyap

Abstract:
Late sowing of wheat in the rice-wheat cropping system is due to the late harvesting of rice and it is one of the major causes for low yield of wheat crop. Late sowing subjected plants to heat stress resulting in the reduction in yield due to the sub-optimal temperature during germination and supra-optimal during the reproductive growth, leading to significant yield reduction in wheat. Adaptation strategies to combat this could be either growing heat-tolerant cultivars or adjustments in sowing dates. Our results revealed that timely sown crop (N) showed significantly higher plant height, root length, total number of leaves, NAR, RGR and CGR compared with late sown condition (L). Among the varieties used, V₂ (HUW-234) had lesser decline in growth parameters than V₁ (HUW-468) due to late sowing, implying that ‘HUW-234’ has thermo-tolerant characteristics. Exogenous application of salicylic acid (SA) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) played an important role in mitigating the adverse effects of heat stress. Combination of both was more effective than single treatment.