FERTILIZATION MANAGEMENT OF WHEAT CROP AND RATE OF RESPONSE TO NITROGEN FERTILIZATION

Khalil, H.; Nor Eldein, Gehan

doi:10.21608/jssae.2015.43954

FERTILIZATION MANAGEMENT OF WHEAT CROP AND RATE OF RESPONSE TO NITROGEN FERTILIZATION

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

H. Khalil ¹
Gehan Nor Eldein ²

¹ Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.

² Wheat Research Department - Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.

10.21608/jssae.2015.43954

Abstract

Soil fertility depletion and soil quality decline have been threatening the ecological and economic sustainability of crop production. The use of high yielding varieties results in the depletion of soil nutrient content which should be considered in setting the crop fertilization strategy. In this concern, field experiment was carried out for two successive winter seasons (2013 & 2014) in the clay soil of Bahtim Research Station, AgricultureResearchCenter, to study the effectiveness of fertilization management on wheat productivity on old land. The results indicate that, nutrient deficiency is one of the major constraints facing wheat production. Deficiency of phosphorus supply led to the earliness of physiological maturity stage and heading date, moreover, an increase in the number of spikes existed in spite of the decrease in the number and weight of wheat grains. Also the highest values of grain yield, plant height, 1000-grain weight, number of spikes m^-2 existed as a result of increasing nitrogen up to 100kgfed^-1. Results indicate also that nitrogen uptake and the use efficiency of N, P and K were improved if combined with P and K applications. The utilization efficiency of 100 kg Nfed^-1 was higher than 50 and 75 kg Nfed^-1 levels. On the other hand the highest P and K release from fertilizers were obtained with PK treatment with increasing nitrogen levels. Statistically, positive significant correlations were found between availability of soil NO₃, NH₄, total N, P mgkg^-1 and EC (dSm^-1) values with grain yield, N and P content in wheat grains. The relation between available K in soil and grain K content is positive and significant.

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