Effect of Various Seed Rates and Row Spacings on Yield Response of Spring Wheat

Abstract

Seed rate and row spacing play a vital role for establishing optimum plant densities which is a pre-requisite for increasing grain yield. A field experiment was carried out at the Agronomy Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, from November 2022 to March 2023 to evaluate the yield response of wheat to different seed rates and row spacings. The study utilized wheat variety BARI Gom-33 as the planting material. The experiment comprised two factors, Factor A: seed rate such as (i) 100 kg ha-1 (ii) 120 kg ha-1 (iii) 140 kg ha-1 (iv) 160 kg ha-1 (v) 180 kg ha-1; Factor B: row spacing such as (i) Continuous sowing in 20 cm apart line (ii) Continuous sowing in 15 cm apart line (iii) Continuous sowing in 10 cm apart line. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Results clearly indicated that seed rate, row spacing and their interaction exerted significant effect on yield contributing characters and yield of wheat. It was observed that the highest grain yield (3.06 t ha-1) was obtained with seed rate 160 kg ha-1. It was the outcome of the highest plant height, number of spikes m-2, number of spikelets spike-1, number of grains spikelets-1, number of grains spike-1 and 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield and biological yield. Row spacing had significant effect on yield contributing characters and yield of wheat such as plant height, number of spikes m-2, number of spikelets spike-1, number of grains spikeletes-1, number of grains spike-1, grain yield, straw yield, biological yield and except 1000-grain weight and harvest index. 15 cm row spacing produced highest plant height, number of spikes m-2, which consequently produced the highest grain yield (2.81 t ha-1) and the lowest yield (2.50 t ha-1) was found in 10 cm. The highest grain yield (3.33 t ha-1) was obtained from 160 kg ha-1 seed rate with 15 cm row spacing. Therefore, it can be concluded that BARI Gom-33 should be cultivated at 160 kg ha-1 seed rate with 15 cm row spacing for obtaining higher yield.