RESPONSE OF WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) VARIETIES TO SOWING METHOD AND FERTILIZER TREATMENTS

ABSTRACT

Field experiments were conducted in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 dry seasons at the Research Farm of the Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru and Kadawa to study the response wheat varieties to sowing method and fertilizer treatment. The treatments consisted of three varieties (LACRIWHIT-1, LACRIWHIT-4 and LACRIWHIT-5), twosowing methods (broadcasting and drilling) and four fertilizer (zero fertilizer control, NPK at 120 kg N, 60 kg P 2O5 and 60 kg K 2O ha-1, Farmyard Manure at 10 t ha-1 and combination of NPK (60kg N, 30 kg P 2O 5 and 30 kg K 2O ha-1) and FYM (5 t ha-1)). The treatments were laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated three times. Growth attributes such as plant height, number of tillers, number of leaves and crop dry matter varied significantly among the varieties at different sampling periods and were generally found to be higher in LACRIWHIT-5 than LACRIWHIT-1 and 4. The variety LACRIWHIT-5 was superior to LACRIWHIT-1 and 4 in most yield attributes such as number of spike m-2, spike length, weight of grain spike-1, 1000-grain weight and total biomass at harvest. However, LACRIWHIT-1 and 4 headed, flowered and matured earlier. LACRIWHIT-1 had higher grain protein (12.28 and 12.59 %) and gluten content (9.73 and 9.66 %). Growth parameters such as stand count, number of tillers, number of leaves, leaf area, crop dry matter, CGR, RGR, NAR, days to maturity and effective tillers were significantly affected by sowing method with drill sowing giving higher values in most cases than broadcast. Drill sowing also significantly increased yield components such as number of spike m-2, number of grains per spike, and grain weight as well as grain yield and grain moisture content. Fertilizer application significantly increased growth parameters such as plant height, number of tillers, number of leaves and crop dry matter, crop growth rate and hastened days to 50% heading, flowering and maturity. High stand count, taller plants and more tillers were obtained resulting from application of NPK alone or in combination with FYM than control treatment. Fertilizer application increased tiller production which directly influence leaf number and LAI of the crop.Days to 50 % heading, flowering and maturity was relatively earlier in the fertilized plots compared to the unfertilized ones. Yield components such as spike length, spike m-2, 1000-grain weight, grain per spike and higher biomass yield of wheat were influenced by fertilizer application. From the study, highest yield was obtained with the application of NPK alone or in combination with FYM followed by FYM alone and the least was in the unfertilized control. Positive and significant correlation was observed between grain yield and most growth and yield components of wheat. These include plant height, number of tillers m-2, LAI, crop dry matter, CGR, spike m-2, spike length, spikelets spike-1, number of grains spike-1, weight of grains spike-1, 1000 grain weight, total biomass and harvest index. Also, LAI significantly and positively correlated to CGR and RGR. The relationships between grain yield and days to 50% flowering, heading and maturity was negative. Similarly, correlation between number of grains spike-1and 1000 grain weight was negative. In the path coefficient analysis, total biomass production had both the greatest direct effect and contributed more to grain yield followed by harvest index. The highest positive indirect contribution was from crop dry matter via weight of grain spike-1as well as number oftillers m-2via total biomass at Samaru and from weight of grain spike-1via total biomass at Kadawa. The low residual values obtained in study suggest that the major characters contributing to the grain yield of wheat were measured. It was realized that only 1.2%, 38.70% and 34.37% at Samaru while at Kadawa 11.54%, 6.0% and 7.35% of the variability remain unaccounted in 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and their combined mean respectively. The partial economic analysis revealed that, at both locations applicationof combined NPK and FYM to drilled LACRIWHIT-5 resulted in the highest gross margin and profit per naira (₦) invested. The lowest gross margin came from broadcast LACRIWHIT-1 sown unfertilized followed by LACRIWHIT-5 under same treatment. Based on the findings of this study, it could be concluded that LACRIWHIT-5 was superior to LACRIWHIT-4 and LACRIWHIT-1 in most growth, yield attributes and yield while LACRIWHIT-1 produced more grain protein and gluten content than LACRIWHIT-4 and 5. Drill sowing was better than broadcast in terms of most growth, yield attributes and yield. Combined application of NPK (60kg N, 30 kg P 2O 5 and 30 kg K 2O ha-1) and FYM (5 t ha-1) or full dose of NPK (NPK at 120kg N, 60 kg P 2O 5 and 60 kg K 2O ha-1,) gave the highest grain yield. Therefore, drill sowing of variety LACRIWHIT-5 with application of either combined NPK (60kg N, 30 kg P 2O 5 and 30 kg K 2O ha-1) and FYM (5 t ha-1) or full rate of NPK (NPK at 120kg N, 60 kg P 2O 5 and 60 kg K 2O ha-1,) is suggested but economically, grain yield was best at the combination of NPK and FYM to drill sown LACRIWHIT-5.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) belongs to the family Poaceae and ranks first in both area cultivated and production among cereal crops. It contributes more calories and proteins to the world‟s human diet than any other cereals. Globally, production is estimated at 749 million metric tonnes from about 220.4 million hectares (FAO, 2016). The highest average yields are obtained in Western Europe, with more than 8 t ha-1, in contrast to about 1 t ha-1 in countries of Central and West Asia and West Africa (Rajaram and Braun, 2009). In Nigeria, it is a major crop as it is eaten as bread and other wheat-based products such as cakes, biscuits, macaroni, spaghetti, pasta, etc. (Falaki and Mohammed, 2011). Wheat possesses several health benefits (Heshe et al., 2016) against diseases such as constipation, ischaemic, heart disease, diverticulum, appendicitis, diabetes, and obesity especially when utilized as a whole-grain product (Kumar et al., 2011).Wheat production in Nigeria is presently restricted (because of high temperature and humidity) to areas between latitudes 10-140N (covering the Sudan and Sahel Savanna zones), during the cold harmattan period between the months of November and February, under irrigation (Olugbemi, 1994). Currently, Nigeria‟s production stands at 60,000 tonnes from about 51,000 hectares (Anon., 2016). Cereal yield is generally low in soils of West Africa because of low soil phosphorus and nitrogen (Okpara and Igwe, 2014). Nigeria‟s Savanna soils are generally low in organic matter (Abdulkadir and Abu, 2013; Lawal and Girei, 2013), nitrogen and phosphorus (Adeosun, 2008; Lawan and Girei, 2013). Wheat in Nigeria is produced in the Savanna zone, and continuous cultivation which had replaced the traditional shifting cultivation causes soil nutrient and fertility depletion, structure degradation, reduced water infiltration, increased run off and erosion (Odunze, 2003; Lawal, 2012). Excessive use of chemical fertilizers causes soil and water pollution (Elhassan et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2010; Lawal and Girei 2013). In recent times, attention has been directed towards organic fertilizers owing to

hazardous environmental consequences and high cost of inorganic fertilizers (Jilani et al., 2007; Chaudhry et al., 2009; Shiyam and Binang, 2011 Oyedeji et al., 2014). Integrated plant nutrient management enhances soil productivity and sustains crop production (Dilshad et al., 2010; Aslam et al., 2011a). Farmyard manure (FYM) significantly influenced the soil organic matter concentration (%) in soil as compared to application of recommended NPK (Aslam et al., 2011b; Abbas and Fadul 2013). Generally, combined application of organic manure and chemical fertilizer improves soil fertility, soil physical and chemical properties and increases crop yields (Ezekiel, 2010; Liu et al., 2010). FYM is one of the organic fertilizers used by Nigeria‟s peasant farmers. Benefits of FYM and in combination with inorganic fertilizer have been reported in wheat (Ali et al. 2011; Jibrin and Fagam, 2012; Khan et al., 2013a, Zahoor, 2014) and other crops such as maize (Shah et al., 2009; Achieng et al., 2013, Adesoji., 2013; Zehirun et al., 2013), millet (Sadiq et al., 2012; Bakhashwain et al., 2013) sorghum (Ahmad et al., 2007) soybean (Bhattacharyya et al., 2008) etc. Traditionally wheat is planted using broadcast method (Abbass et al., 2009) and recently there is a shift from the broadcast to drilling (Soomro et al., 2009; Amin et al., 2013a; Naresh et al., 2014). However, there are still conflicting results on the various methods owing to relative advantages and ultimate yield as broadcasting is easy to do, while drilling is easy to weed. Carver (2005) investigated the impact of different crop establishment methods in winter wheat. Broadcasting method produced the most any of the spatial arrangement and subsequent yield performance. Singh et al. (2005)effective spatial arrangements. However, there was no consistent relationship between reported in India, that in wheat, strip drilling resulted in higher growth and grain yield than the broadcasting. However, Ahuja et al. (1996) recorded highergrain yield in broadcasting compared to drilling. In a recent study in india Abbass et al. (2009) also reported higher yield in broadcast than drilling at 15, 22.5 and 30 cm spaced rows. More recent studies indicated higher yield in drill method over broadcasting (Amin et al., 2013a; Naresh et al., 2014) Performance of different varieties of wheat under different management and environmental condition is of interest to the agronomist. Over the years, several wheat varieties have been developed and released in Nigeria (Miko, 2012). These varieties vary in their response to management and environmental condition. Significant differences in grain yield among wheat varieties were reported in various wheat growing areas of Nigeria; Bauchi (Jibrin and Fagam, 2012), Borno (Bibinu et al., 2016), Kano (Falaki and Mohammed 2011) and Sokoto (Sokoto and Singh, 2013). Similarly, variation in yield and yield components of wheat varieties under organic (Jibrin and Fagam, 2012; Abbas and Fadul 2013), inorganic (Asargew et al. 2014;Farrokh and Farrokh 2014) and their combinations (Akhtar et al., 2011; Zahoor, 2014) were also reported in Asia and other parts of the globe. 54.2

. Justification and Objectives

The importance of wheat in the global and Nigerian context cannot be overemphasized considering the hectareage cultivated and the various uses of the crop (FAO, 2010; Falaki and Mohammed, 2011). Despite the huge land put under wheat production, the demand for wheat is yet to be met. With human population expected to reach 8.3 billion

globally by 2025, coupled with continuous deterioration and losses of agricultural lands (Mannion, 1998), it has become imperative to develop ways to harness the limited resource for maximum production to feed human population. Local wheat production is grossly inadequate (Falaki and Mohammed, 2011; Olabanji et al., 2012) thus Nigeria annually imports over $3 Billion worth of wheat (Anon., 2016). Local production is hampered with challenges (Olabanji et al. 2012). One of such challenges is low soil fertility (Adeosun, 2008; Law-Ogbomo et al., 2012; Okpara and Igwe, 2014) hence the use of inorganic fertilizer. However, excessive use of chemical fertilizer is associated with health hazards (Elhassan et al., 2010; Nyangani, 2010; Zhang et al., 2010) and high cost. Therefore, it is considered not only too costly but also out of reach of the poor farmers (Shiyam and Binang, 2011; Lawan and Giere, 2013). Integrated plant nutrient management is a method of combining chemical fertilizers with organic manures (Jilani et al., 2007; Chaudhry et al., 2009) and is found to enhance soil productivity and sustains crop production (Dilshad et al., 2010;Nyangani, 2010; Aslam et al.2011b). The use of Farmyard manure (FYM) in this system significantly influences organic matter concentration (%) in soil as compared to application of recommended NPK alone (Abbas and Fadul, 2013). However, famers rarely practice use of FYM in wheat production in Nigeria. Wheat sowing using broadcasting dominated the traditional production system (Amin et al., 2013b). The present trend is a shift toward drilling method (Khan et al., 1990; Singh et al., 2005). There are reports of higher yield under broadcast compared to drilling (Carver, 2005; Abbas et al., 2009). However, the degree of response to management and environment differ with variety (Orakwue et al., 1991; Miko et al., 2006; Bibinu and Gwadi, 2014). Several wheat varieties have released by LCRI. These varieties vary in their yield potentials hence the need to evaluate for their response to management conditions, particularly fertilizer and sowing method. This is important where soil fertility is low and appropriate sowing enhances crop establishment and easy management. There is paucity of information on the use of FYM in wheat production in Nigeria and application of integrated plant nutrient management system under different sowing methods for wheat production. The pertinent questions are: can integrated plant nutrient management system enhance their performance? Can the sowing methods affect their performance? How significant will be the response of the varieties under such condition? These considerations prompted the need to carry out this study with the following objectives.

1. To assess the growth, yield components and yield and of wheat varieties.
2. To determine the appropriate sowing method for wheat production.
3. To determine the effect of FYM, NPK fertilizer and their combination on

growth, yield components and yield of wheat.

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