Yield, grain protein content and input use efficiency in wheat as influenced by irrigation and nitrogen levels in a semi-arid region

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during 2011- 12 to 2012-13 to study the interactive effect of irrigation and nitrogen (N) fertilizer on yield, grain protein content, and water and N use efficiency of wheat. The design of the experiment was split-plot with irrigation (I0: rainfed, I2: two irrigations, I3: three irrigations, I5: five irrigations) as main plot and N (N0: 0 kg N ha-1, N30: 30 kg N ha-1, N60: 60 kg N ha-1 and N120: 120 kg N ha-1) as sub-plot treatment. Averaged across the years, I5 treatment registered 4, 33 and 192 per cent higher grain yield compared to I3, I2 and I0 treatments, respectively. Similarly, N120 treatment registered 19, 42 and 93 per cent higher wheat grain yield compared to the N60, N30 and N0 treatments, respectively. The I0 irrigation treatment registered 23, 25 and 16 per cent lower water use efficiency (WUE) compared to the I2, I3 and I5 treatments, respectively. The I5 irrigation treatment registered 3, 32 and 200 per cent higher partial factor productivity of N (PFPN) compared to I3, I2 and I0 treatments, respectively. Thus, wheat may be grown with three irrigations at crown root initiation, tillering and flowering stages with 120 kg N ha-1 for higher yield, grain protein content and WUE in the semi-arid environment of Delhi.