Mst Masuma Akhter, Akbar Hossain, Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva, Jagadish Timsina, and Md Shohidul Islam

DOI: 10.14456/sjst-psu.2019.49

pp. 389 - 396

Abstract

Farmers in Bangladesh are always seeking an optimal seed rate to reduce production costs and increase wheat yield.
The Wheat Research Centre (WRC) of Bangladesh has developed new wheat varieties over several years. To reduce production
costs and obtain higher grain yield (GY) from these varieties, optimum seeding rates are needed. In this context, a two-year field
experiment was conducted with five newly released wheat varieties (‘BARI Gom 24’, ‘BARI Gom 25’, ‘BARI Gom 26’, ‘BARI
Gom 27’ and ‘BARI Gom 28’) and three seeding rates (100, 120 and 140 kg ha^─1). These treatments were performed under
irrigation in the WRC research field in Northern Bangladesh to determine the optimum seeding rates for these varieties.
Significantly higher GY (p≤0.05) was obtained with a seeding rate of 140 kg ha^─1 for all varieties, compared to other rates. A
seeding rate less than the recommended rate (120 kg ha^─1) for all varieties failed to produce comparable GY in both years.
Among all varieties, ‘BARI Gom 26’ had the highest GY while ‘BARI Gom 25’ had the lowest GY in both years. Although the
interaction effect of variety and seeding rate on GY did not vary significantly (p≤0.05) in both years, surplus GY was 467 and
233 kg ha^─1, respectively for ‘BARI Gom 24’, 63 and 75 kg ha^─1 for ‘BARI Gom 25’, 81 and 93 kg ha^─1 for ‘BARI Gom 26’, 23
and 66 kg ha^─1 for ‘BARI Gom 27’, and 152 and 220 kg ha^─1 for ‘BARI Gom 28’ in the first and second year when seeded at 140
kg ha^─1. For the same seed rate, the GY of ‘BARI Gom 24’ increased by 5.3 to 9.6% and that of ‘BARI Gom 28’ increased from
2.8 to 5% over the two years. Therefore, a seeding rate of 140 kg seed ha^─1 is recommended for ‘BARI Gom 24’ and ‘BARI
Gom 28’, while the current recommended rate (120 kg ha^─1) should be continued for the other three varieties when grown under
irrigation on the Old Himalayan Piedmont Plain of Bangladesh.