Performance of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) varieties for productivity, profitability and nutrient uptake under different sowing dates and nitrogen levels

A field experiment was conducted during the winter (rabi) seasons of 2015–16 and 2016–17 at Jobner, Rajastha, to evaluate the bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties for productivity, profitability and nutrient uptake under different sowing dates and nitrogen levels. The experiment was conducted in split-plot design with 3 replications. The experiment consisted of 2 sowing dates (20 November and 10 December), 3 varieties ‘Raj 4083’, ‘Raj 3777’ and ‘Raj 4037’ in main plots and 4 levels of nitrogen (control, 40, 80 and 120 kg/ha) in subplots. Sowing of crop on 20 November resulted in significantly higher growth, yield attributes, yield, nutrient uptake, net returns and benefit: cost (B: C) ratio of wheat than 10 December-sown crop. A reduction of 16.4% in grain yield and 19.7% in straw yield was recorded under 10 December-sown crop as compared to 20 November. Among the varieties, ‘Raj 4037’ was showed significantly highest total number of tillers/m row length, dry-matter accumulation/m row length, leaf-area index (LAI), crop-growth rate (CGR), test weight, grain yield, straw yield and N, P, K uptake by grain and straw than ‘Raj 4083’ and ‘Raj 3777’. Variety ‘Raj 4037’ also gave significantly highest net returns (72.9 × 10³/ha) and B: C ratio (3.71) than ‘Raj 4083’ and ‘Raj 3777’. The progressive increase in nitrogen levels up to 120 kg/ha significantly increased the growth, yield attributes and N, P, K uptake by bread wheat and simultaneously higher grain yield by 60.2 and 17.1% and straw yield by 37.8 and 15.1% over the control and 40 kg N/ha respectively. Application of 120 kg N/ha resulted in significantly maximum net returns (75.6 × 10³/ha) and B: C ratio (3.75) but statistically at par with 80 kg N/ha.