Growth and productivity of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) as affected by integrated nutrient management and foliar application of iron

A field experiment was conducted during the winter (rabi) season of 2016–17 to 2017–2018 on loamy sand soil of Jobner, Rajasthan, to study response of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to integrated nutrient management and foliar application of iron (Fe). The study showed that, application of 50% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) + vermicompost (VC) @ 4 t/ha resulted significant increase in dry-matter accumulation (DMA)/m row length (230.5 g), yield attributes, viz. spike length (8.30 cm), number of effective tillers/m row length (75.8), grains/spike (43.1), test weight (38.34 g), grain yield (4.7 t/ha) and straw yield (6.1 t/ha). Application of 50% RDF + VC @ 4 t/ha also showed significantly higher total uptake of N (124.3 kg/ha), P (32.1 kg/ha), K (100.6 kg/ha) and Fe (2261 g/ha) by bread wheat crop. Application of 0.5% FeSO₄ as foliar spray at tillering + flowering stages resulted in significantly higher dry-matter accumulation (244.8 g), higher yield attributes and grain (4.1 t/ha) and straw yields (5.7 t/ha) with higher total nutrient uptake. Interaction effect on grain yield was found significant between integrated nutrient management treatments and foliar spray of iron. Application of 50% RDF +VC @ 4 t/ha along with foliar application of iron 0.5% ferrous sulphate at tillering + flowering stage gave significantly higher yield over the control.