EFFECT OF SEEDING RATE AND NITROGEN FERTILIZER ON GRAIN YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS OF MISR 3 BREAD WHEAT CULTIVAR UNDER TWO TILLAGE SYSTEMS

Document Type : original papers

Authors

1 Department of wheat, Field crops research institute, Agricultural Research center

2 Wheat research department, Field crops research institute, Agricultural Research center

3 Soil Chem. & Phys. Dept., Soil, Water and Environmental institute, Agriculture research center, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Climatic changes characterized by unusually heavy rainfall during wheat land preparation in the Nile Delta. Farmers were compelled to adopt zero-tillage (ZT) practices instead of traditional methods due to these conditions. To address this issue, two field experiments were conducted at El-Gemmeiza Agricultural Research Station during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 growing seasons to evaluate the effects of seeding rate and nitrogen fertilization under two tillage systems. Two separate experiments were established: one under conventional tillage (CT) and the other under zero tillage (ZT). A split-plot design was applied, assigning three seeding rates (71, 107, and 143 kg ha⁻¹) to main plots and four nitrogen levels (60, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha⁻¹) to sub-plots. Increasing the seeding rate improved spike density and grain yield, particularly under ZT. The highest rate (143 kg ha⁻¹) was found to be optimal for both tillage systems. Nitrogen fertilization had a noteworthy effect on yield and its components, with 180 kg N ha⁻¹ resulting in the highest grain yield (6.62 and 6.49 t ha⁻¹ for CT and ZT, respectively). No further significant improvements were obtained at 240 kg N ha⁻¹, suggesting diminishing returns. A significant interaction was detected, where the combination SR3 × N3 (143 kg ha⁻¹ × 180 kg N ha⁻¹) achieved maximum productivity (7.14 and 7.19 t ha⁻¹ under CT and ZT, respectively) and the highest harvest index. Soil analyses demonstrated that ZT maintained higher organic matter content (1.26–1.62%), whereas CT improved bulk density and infiltration rate. Overall, integrating a high seeding rate (143 kg ha⁻¹) with moderate nitrogen fertilization (180 kg N ha⁻¹) under ZT provided the most effective balance between productivity and soil sustainability in the Nile Delta

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