Vol. 11, Special Issue 11 (2022)

Author(s):
IB Pandey, RS Singh, Sunil Kumar, Dharminder, Amrendra Kumar and Rajendra Prasad

Abstract:
An experiment was planned and carried out for three consecutive rabi seasons of 2012 to 2014 to study the phenology, thermal requirement and productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori and Pao l) cultivars under varied crop growing environmental condition of Bihar. The crop seeded on 15 November took maximum calendar days and accumulated more heat unit for boot, ear head emergence, milk, dough and maturity stages which deceased with subsequent delay in seeding time and recorded minimum value on 25 December seeded crop, while 25 December seeded crop took maximum calendar days for tiller initiation. Crop seeded on 25 November recorded maximum heat use efficiency which reduced significantly when seeding was done earlier on 15 November and delayed beyond 5 December. Similarly, 25 November seeded crop also recorded highest grain and straw yields and harvest index which decreased significantly under delayed seeding beyond 5 December. The decrease in grain yield was registered to the tune of 4.65, 23.26 and 30.23% under delayed seeding on 5, 15 and 25 December respectively and 6.98% on advanced seeding on 15 November. Delay in seeding from 15 November to 25 December reduced requirement of thermal period upto 4 days, 14 days, and 15 days between ear emergence to milk stage, ear emergence to dough stage and ear emergence to maturity respectively. Among the tested varieties, RW 3711 required minimum calendar days in the study year and build up lower heat unit for these phenophases than HD 2824 and HD 2733. This variety also recorded significantly lower grain yield, harvest index and heat- use efficiency than HD 2733 and HD 2824. Calendar days, accumulated heat unit, grain yield and heat-use efficiency did not varied significantly among HD 2824 and HD 2733. Hence, wheat varieties, HD 2733 and HD 2824 were found ideal for agro-ecological condition of Bihar.