Impact of irrigation schedule and integrated nutrient management on wheat yield and nutrients uptake under semi-arid regions

The indiscriminate and unwise use of inorganic fertilizers and excessive irrigation lead to reduced crop productivity and environmental pollution. Therefore, it is essential to use organic manures judiciously and implement proper irrigation scheduling for the sustainable production of wheat crop. In order to evaluate the combined effects of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients on wheat yield and nutrients uptake under various irrigation schedules, a field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years include five irrigation schedule i.e. No irrigation, irrigation at the seedling stage, irrigation at both seedling and booting stages, irrigation at seedling, tillering, and booting stages, and irrigation at seedling, tillering, booting, and grain formation stages, and six integrated nutrient levels i.e. contained farmyard manure (FYM) (t ha-1) and N-P2O5-K2O (kg ha-1) combinations as; 0:0-0-0, 20:0-0-0, 15:60-45-30, 10:80-60-40, 5:100-75-50 and 0:120-90-60. The results indicated that both the irrigation schedule and integrated nutrient application significantly (P <= 0.05) influenced the yield and nutrient uptake potential of wheat. As far as irrigation level is concern, three irrigation applied at seedling + tillering + booting stages improved yield, yield components, and nutrient uptake potential. Thus, it is concluded that the integrated application of organic and inorganic nutrients (10 tons FYM + 80-60-40 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) resulted in maximum grain yield and nutrients (N, P and K) uptake at three irrigation levels (seedling + tillering + booting stage) and could be recommended for enhancing wheat yield and quality, particularly in semiarid regions.

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