Performance of Wheat Genotypes Under Different Dates of Sowing in Southern Part of Kailali District, Nepal

The American Journal of Life Science and Innovation (AJLSI) is an international, open access, and blind peer-reviewed Journal that publishes research articles emphasizing life sciences and innovations. The Journal comprises techniques suitable for promoting the dissemination of research findings that are expected to benefit the basic needs of health, agriculture, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and food industries. AJLSI also publishes life science articles on evidence-based practices, thus improving the quality of life. AJLSI accepts manuscripts throughout the year; all submitted manuscripts are rigorously reviewed, and publish articles online first. ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted at Kailali district to study the performance of wheat geno types under different sowing from December, 2017 to April, 2018. The field experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design with a total of 18 treatments consisting of 2 dates of sowing (November 4 and November 20 ) and 9 wheat genotypes(WH1105, HD2733, HD2824, HD2967, Borlaug100, HD3086, PBW550, NL971 and PBW373). Grain yield (5.802 ton/ha),spike length(17.94 cm) and biomass yield(13.16 ton/ha) of NL 971 was highest. HD 2733 had highest number of effective tillers (519.1/ m2) while number of grains per spike(59.80) was highest in HD 2967. PBW 373 had lowest grain yield (4.551 ton/ha), Borlaug 100 was the variety with minimum number of tillers per m2 area (401.3), minimum spike length(15.14 cm) was observed in HD 2733 ,HD 3086 had lowest no. of grains per spike(42.12). Grain yield(5.328 ton/ha) , effective tillers per m2(475.5) , spike length(16.95 cm), number of grains per spike (53.12), biomass yield(11.45 ton/ha) was recorded maximum in wheat sown on 20th Nov. Grain yield (4.893 ton/ha),effective til - lers(435.1), spike length(15.66 cm), grains per spike(49.59) and biomass yield(10.49 ton/ ha) was recorded minimum in wheat sown on 4th Nov. Maximum test wt. (50.83 g ) was found in HD 2733 of 20th Nov. and the lowest test wt. (40.47 g) was found in PBW 550 of 20th Nov.


INTRODUCTION Background
Nepal is an agro based country. It is geographically distinguished into three major regions, Terai region, hilly region and himalayan region out of which only terai and small portion of hilly and himalayan region is suitable for cultivation. Agriculture is a important sector in the Nepalese economy contributing about third of its GDP and engaging about two thirds of its population (MOAD, 2016a).Wheat (Triticum aestivum) or gahun belonging to the family poaceae is the world most widely cultivated cereal crop. As a winter season crop wheat is still playing vital role in establishing the food grain production in the country. Wheat contains more protein [8-15% (grain) and 8-13% (flour) than other cereals (Mathur, Suman, Meena, & Anuradha, 2017). Wheat proteins are of special significance. Besides their significance in nutrition, these are mainly concerned with providing the characteristic substance 'gluten', which is very essential for bakers (Macritchie, 1984) There are many factors which are responsible for low average yield of wheat. Therefore some efforts have been made to increase the yield by introduction of high yielding varieties, balanced fertilizer application and efficient use of irrigation facilities. But still there are some factors upon which attention have not been made to increase the overall yield. One of the limiting factors is date of sowing. Sowing time significantly influence the yield and other yield attributing characteristics. There are still many factors which are responsible for low average yield. One of such environmental factors is untimely planting and it affects yield of wheat crop considerably (Saini, Dhadwal, & Nanda, 1988;Ikeh & Ndaeyo, 2021). For supplying food to the increasing population timely sowing of seed along with timely application of fertilizers are crucial. The problem of post anthesis heat stress is highly responsible for low wheat yield. Therefore efforts should be made to minimize the effect of temperature variation caused due to changed sowing date by choosing appropriate sowing date. The ongoing scenario of the country shows that because of the increasing rate of population growth, 1.35% in country and 1.86% in Kailali district (Statistics, 2017), the area occupied by (MOAD, 2016b)(MOAD, 2016b) overall agricultural commodity goes on rapid way of decreasing because of increased use of land for human settlement. Area under the wheat cultivation in Nepal is 762373 ha(2071/72) and this area under the wheat cultivation decreased by 1.2% and falls to 753470 ha in 2072/73(AICC, 2074). Hypothesis H1: wheat varieties sown at different dates have variation in their performances. Objectives General objective To assess production performance of different wheat genotypes sown at different dates Specific objectives • To find out performance of each wheat genotype at each sowing date in terms of yield and yield attributes.
• To compare the performance of each wheat genotype at both sowing date.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Location:
This research is carried out at Kailari rural municipality and Dhangadhi submetropolitan Physic-chemical properties of the soil at the experimentation site The soil sample from the research plot was taken and the pH content of the soil was found to be and it is suitable for wheat .The nitrogen, phosphorus and potash content of the research field was found to be high as per the soil report.The land was ploughed and leveled once at 30th Oct. for 4th Nov. sowing and again at 15th Nov. for 20th Nov. sowing. 300 kg FYM was applied in the research plot on 4th Nov. and 20th Nov. for the two sowing dates and the field was ploughed, made fine and pulverized. The whole field was divided into 36 small plots each with 16 m2 at each sowing dates 4th Nov. and 20th Nov. respectively. Each small plot was separated with rope in each side. Treated seed was sown at each sowing dates with the seed rate of 120 kg/ha.The seeds were sown continuously in the rows spaced at 20 cm. The sowing was done manually on 4th Nov. for early sowing and 20th Nov. for normal sowing with the seed rate of 120kg/ ha.1st irrigation was done at 17 days of seeding date and 2nd irrigation at 66 days of seeding date in case of both seeding date. The crop was fertilized with 100:50:50 kg NPK/ha,.through urea, diammonium phosphate and muriate of potash respectively. 1/3rd N and full dose of phosphorous and potash was given at the time of at sowing and remaining 2/3rd nitrogen was top dressed at 40 and 75 days after sowing respectively.

Yield and yield attributing characters
No. of Effective tillers, Average of spike length, No. of total grains in 5 spikes, TAGB in NHA, Grain yield in NHA, Thousand grain wt.and Grain moisture. The obtained data was systematically arranged, tabulated in Microsoft excel program and graph and figure was drawn. Various analytical software such as Genstat and M-stat was utilized for the analysis of the data obtained.
Duncan test was carried out at 5% level of significance.

CONCLUSIONS
The effect of sowing dates and varieties on yield and concerned yield attributes of wheat was successfully conducted in the farmer's field. There was no significant effect of sowing date on greenness value of the different wheat varieties. Significant variations were observed in the different parameters in response to the different varieties and sowing dates. Highest grain yield was found in the wheat variety NL 971followed by WH 1105 and lowest in PBW 373.Simillarly 20th Nov. sowing had more grain yield than 4th Nov. sowing.