Agronomic and Yield Responses of Some Dryland Wheat Cultivars to Chemical Fertilizers of Urea and Triple Superphosphate in Hashtrud Region

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.

2 Hashtrud Agricultural Service Center, Hashtrud, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction
Nitrogen and phosphorus are among the most important nutrients for optimal performance and play a significant role in increasing crop yield, so that there is little agricultural soil that does not need their use. Given the limitations of using chemical fertilizers in rainfed soils, choosing appropriate cultivars with high absorption efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus elements is of particular importance. Using cultivars with high efficiency in absorbing nutrients is one of the strategies that can be used to improve nutrition of crops. Increasing the yield of modern wheat cultivars requires the extensive use of inputs such as nitrogen fertilizers, which may lead to increased production costs. Nitrogen deficiency limits crop production more than other nutrients. Nitrogen increases wheat yield by increasing the number of spikes, the number of grains per spike, and the weight of 1,000 grains. Given the importance of selecting varieties with high efficiency in nutrient absorption, this study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of wheat varieties in absorbing nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients and the existence of variation among varieties in terms of absorption of these nutrients.
Materials and Methods
In order to investigate of rain-fed wheat cultivars in relation to the use of urea and triple superphosphate fertilizers, an experiment was conducted as factorial-split plot design based on randomized complete block (RCBD) with three replications in Hashtrud city in the crop year of 1400-1401. Wheat cultivars were considered as subplot factor at five levels (Hashtrud, Sadra, Homa, Varan and Baran) and urea fertilizers (0 and 60 kg/ha in autumn) and triple superphosphate fertilizers (0 and 30 kg/ha) were considered as main plot factor. The morphological and physiological traits evaluated were as follows: flag leaf length, leaf width, plant height, stem height, number of tillers, number of fertile tillers, main spike length, main spike weight, leaf chlorophyll index (SPAD), single plant weight, thousand grain weight, protein percent, and gluten percent.
Results and Discussion
The difference between the compared wheat genotypes was statistically significant in terms of most traits. The main effect of nitrogen fertilizer was significant for the traits of main spike weight, single plant weight, thousand grain weight, grain yield, protein percentage, and gluten percentage. The main effect of phosphate fertilizer was significant for the traits of main spike weight, stem height, protein percentage, and gluten percentage. In other words, application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers improved the mentioned traits compared to the control. Also, the interaction effect of nitrogen × phosphorus was significant for the traits of flag leaf length, flag leaf width, plant height, number of tillers, number of fertile tillers, and main spike length. The chlorophyll content index and single plant weight were not significantly affected by nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. The positive and significant correlations were observed between stem length, single plant weight, thousand grain weight, and grain yield. In principal components analysis, the first four main components explained 77 % of the total variation. In the principal component analysis based on the average of 14 traits in five rainfed wheat cultivars, the first component explained 30.57% of the total variation. This values for the second, third, and fourth components were 21.95, 13.75, and 10.86%, respectively. For the first component, the traits of single plant weight (0.90), thousand grain weight (0.87), plant height (0.81), main spike length (0.76), and main spike weight (0.66) had large positive coefficients. For the second component, the traits of flag leaf length (0.86), flag leaf width (0.80), number of fertile tillers (0.70), and number of tillers (0.60) had large positive coefficients, and stem height (-0.46), plant height (-0.39), and thousand grain weight (-0.354) had large negative coefficients. For the third component, the traits of tiller number (0.66), stem height (0.59) and number of fertile tillers (0.51) had high positive coefficients and the traits of main spike weight (-0.47), main spike length (-0.43) and gluten percentage (-0.41) had large negative coefficients. In general, the first component can be called the grain yield component. This component can be used in selection for wheat varieties.
Conclusion
Finally, the results of this study showed that optimal nitrogen and phosphorus management can have positive effects on the yield of wheat cultivars. In addition, genetic differences between cultivars play a key role in nutrient efficiency. It is recommended that fertilization management programs be applied based on the specific needs of each wheat variety to achieve optimal performance.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, R.Sh. and A.P.; methodology, R.Sh. and A.P.; software, R.Sh.; validation, I.A.; formal analysis, R.Sh. and A.P.; investigation, R.Sh., A.P and I.A.; resources, R.Sh. and A.P.; data curation, R.Sh. and A.P.; writing—original draft preparation, R.Sh.; writing–review and editing, A.P.; visualization, R.Sh.; supervision, A.P.; project administration, A.P.; funding acquisition, I.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Data Availability Statement
Data is available on reasonable request from the authors.
Acknowledgements
This paper is published as a part of a Master's thesis supported by the Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology of the University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran. The authors are thankful to the University of Maragheh for financial supports.
 
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
 
Ethical considerations
The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Soil and Plant Science
Volume 35, Issue 1
June 2025
Pages 67-84

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