Influence of Organic Fertilizers and Nitrogen on the Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The integration of organic fertilizers with nitrogen-based fertilizers creates a synergistic effect that enhances wheat growth, yield and grain quality within a sustainable agricultural framework.

The experimentation was executed at the Research Farm, Division of Agronomy, Lovely Professional University, during the rabi seasons of 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, evaluating the effects of organic fertilizers and nitrogen on wheat growth and yield. The research was conducted using a split-plot design with three replications. The treatment comprised five main plots, viz., M₁: Control, M₂: 10 t/ha FYM, M₃: 15 t/ha FYM, M₄: 5 t/ha Poultry Manure and M₅: 7.5 t/ha Poultry Manure and three sub-plot viz., N₁: 100% RDN, N₂: 50% RDN + Two spray of nano urea (at tillering and booting stages) and N₃: 75% RDN + one spray of nano urea (at booting stages).

The analysis highlighted that among the application of organic manures, 7.5 t ha poultry manures (M₅) notably observed the highest growth parameters like plant height (104.25 cm), dry matter accumulation (258.10 g/m row length) and leaf area index (4.86) succeeded by plant height (103.64 cm), dry matter accumulation (257.50 g/m row length) and leaf area index (4.81) on 15 t/ha FYM (M₃) of the wheat which the resulted values were statistically at par. In a similar vein, it was observed that varying levels of nitrogen application had a pronounced and significant influence on the growth parameters of wheat crops viz., plant height (102.08 cm), dry matter accumulation (235.10 g/m row length) and leaf area index (4.65), all of which were achieved under the nitrogen treatment, 100% RDN (N₁). Furthermore, the yield attributes and yield as effective tillers of 228.39, grains per spikelet of 47.39, test weight of 43.41 g, grain yield of 55.67 q/ha, a straw yield of 73.65 q/ha, a biological yield of 129.32 q/ha and harvest index of 43.04% were obtained from 7.5 t-ha poultry manures (M₅) followed by effective tillers of 227.94, grains per spikelet of 47.09, test weight of 42.97 g, grain yield of 55.09 q/ha, a straw yield of 73.27 q/ha, a biological yield of 128.36 q/ha and harvest index of 42.91% from 15 t/ha FYM (M₃) when juxtaposed with the outcomes observed from other treatments administered during the study. However, these values were statistically comparable with 7.5 t/ha poultry manures (M₅). Among the various nitrogen levels employed in the study, the highest yield attributes and yield such as effective tillers of 222.57, grains per spikelet of 46.39, test weight of 41.46 g, grain yield of 51.59 q/ha, a straw yield of 69.83 q-ha, a biological yield of 121.42 q/ha and harvest index of 42.43% were recorded under the 100% RDN (N₁).