Determination of Effects of Different Sowing Frequencies in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties to Yield and Yield Components

Abstract

In wheat cultivation, sowing frequency is one of the crucial agronomic applications affecting grain yield. The aim of the research was to determine the effects of application of different sowing frequency (350, 500, 650 and 800 seeds m-2) for bread wheat cultivars (Alpu 01, Atay 85, Bezostaja 1, Harmankaya 99, Sönmez 01 and Sultan 95) on yield and yield components. Trials was carried out in Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute Eskişehir central campus fields during at 2012-13 and 2013-14 crop seasons in irrigated and rain fed conditions with 3 replications in randomized complete blocks design. In this study, the factors such as grain yield, number of spike per square meter, spike length, number of grain per spike, weight of grain per spike and harvest index were examined in terms of sowing frequency applications and cultivars in both conditions. As a result, the maximum grain yield was obtained from 650 seeds m-2 in rainfed conditions and this value was obtained from the application 500 seeds m-2 in irrigated conditions. Harmankaya_99 variety reached the highest values in terms of grain yield in both conditions and followed this by Alpu01 variety. In both conditions spike length, number of grain per spike, weight of grain per spike and harvest index parameters decreased inversely with increasing sowing frequency, while the number of spike number per square meter increased in direct proportion to increased sowing frequency. In rainfed conditions while there was a positive correlation between the grain yield with number of spike per square meter and harvest index, there was negative correlation among grain yield with spike length, number of grain per spike and weight of grain per spike. There was found significant positive correlation between grain yield with spike length and harvest index in irrigated conditions.