INFLUENCE OF SOWING DATE ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT VARIETIES

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Agronomy research field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during November, 2012 to March, 2013 in rabi season with a view to find out the optimum sowing date for maximum growth and yield of wheat varieties. The experiment was carried out with three wheat varieties i.e. V1= BARI Gom 21, V2 = BARI Gom 23 and V3= BARI Gom 24 and five different sowing dates viz. S1= 10th November 2012, S2= 20th November 2012, S3= 30th November 2012, S4=10th December 2012, S5= 20th December 2012 following Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results revealed that among the wheat varieties BARI Gom 24 (V3) performed best and recorded the highest grain yield (4.51 t ha-1). On the other hand, November 20th, 2012 (S2) performed better than the other sowing date treatments and recorded the highest grain yield (4.81 t ha-1). Gradual decrease of growth parameters, yield attributes and yield was observed when wheat seeds were planted later than November 20th, 2012. Based on above findings it can be concluded that, wheat seeds of BARI Gom 24 should be sown on 20th November for maximum wheat grain yield. And planting wheat seeds later than 20th November should be discouraged as it reduces wheat yield.