Productivity and water-use efficiency of macaroni (Triticum durum) and bread wheats (T. aestivum) under varying irrigation levels and schedules in the Vertisols of central India

A field experiment was conducted during the winters of 1998–99 and 1999–2000, to evaluate the performance of macaroni or durum (Triticum durum Desf.) and bread or aestivum wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori & Paol.) under varying irrigation levels and schedules, under limited water availability situations in central India. Performance of wheat under varying irrigation (,evels revealed that the grain yield of durum and aestivum cultivars increased significantly with increasing levels of irrigation and the maximum grain yield of 5,397 and 5,960 kg/ha was obtained during 1998–99 and 1999–2000, respectively, when 6 irrigations [in addition to come up irrigation (CUl)] were applied based on physiological growth stages. Durum wheat cultivars performed better than aestivum wheat with an yield advantage of 4.5 to 8.1% at all levels of irrigations except at I₀ (CUl) and I₁ (CUl + CRI), where yield levels of both wheats were at par. The effective tillers/plant were 55 and 17% higher in aestivum than durum, while 1,000-grain weight was 22 and 14.2% higher in durum over aestivum during 1998–99 and 1999–2000 respectively. Significant increase in grain yield with an advantage of 12.4 and 22.5% was recorded by shifting/delaying irrigation at crown-root initiation to late tillering and late jointing (LJ) respectively. The maximum grain yield of 3,350 kg/ha and water-use efficiency of 11.72 kg/ha-mm were obtained when 1 irrigation (in addition to CUl) was applied at late jointing. The durum varieties ‘HI 8498’ and ‘HD 4672’ gave the maximum grain yield of 4,046 and 3,968 kg/ha, respectively, when 2 irrigations were applied at CRI and LJ in addition to CUl. The maximum WUE of 12.15 kg/ha-mm was recorded in ‘Lok 1’, followed by ‘HI 8498’ (12.06 kg/ha mm) and ‘HD 4672’ (11.85 kg/ha-mm).