Effect of irrigation levels and nitrogen management on water, nitrogen and radiation use efficiency of wheat in a semi-arid tropical environment

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in a sandy loam soil at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi for four years to study the effect of irrigation schedule and nitrogen source on water, nitrogen and radiation use efficiency (RUE) of wheat. Wheat (cv. PBW 502) was grown in a split plot design with four irrigation levels as main plot factor and three nitrogen management strategies as subplot factor. It was observed that grain yield of wheat with irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE irrigation level was statistically similar with that at 1.0 IW/CPE irrigation level and there was no significant difference in the grain yield of wheat due to sole urea @ 120 kg Nha-1 and integrated use of urea @ 60 kg Nha-1 and FYM @ 60 kg Nha-1. Irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE also registered equivalent water use efficiency (WUE) and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFPN) as that of irrigation at 1.0 IW/CPE level. The WUE, RUE and partial factor productivity of wheat due to sole urea was statistically similar to integrated use of urea and FYM. Therefore, wheat may be grown with integrated use of urea and FYM with an irrigation level of 0.8 IW/CPE to save irrigation water compared to 1.0 IW/CPE and 50% urea compared to 100% sole urea treatment, respectively.