Influence of Priming on Emergence, Weed Infestation, Growth and Yield of Wheat Sown under Different Tillage Practices

Abstract

Tillage practices are generally used to prepare seedbed and to control weeds but frequent use of tillage practices accelerate the degradation of soil resources and creates plough pan. However, zero tillage (ZT) has potential to overcome the tillage-induced restrictions and ensure timely wheat planting as well. Moreover, ZT resulted in poor and erratic emergence while seed priming could be used to improve emergence under ZT. Hence this experiment was conducted to evaluate the role of seed priming to improve wheat performance under varying tillage practices. Wheat seeds were soaked in water for 8 h (on-farm priming), CaCl2 solution (ψs -1.25 MPa; osmopriming) for 18 h and aerated water (hydro-priming) for 18 h. Unprimed dry seeds were used as control. Primed and unprimed seeds were sown under ZT, conventional tillage (CT), deep tillage (DT) and on beds. Zero tilled wheat observed delayed and poor emergence; however, seed priming, osmopriming in particular, resulted earlier and more synchronized emergence under all tillage practices. Zero tilled wheat had more weed prevalence while DT and bed sowing (BS) recorded lesser weeds infestation. Osmopriming resulted in quick and more uniform stand leading to significantly better allometric traits and crop yield. Bed sown wheat using osmoprimed seeds harvested the maximum yield due to increase in all yield related traits while zero tilled wheat using unprimed seeds behaved poorly in this regard. In conclusion, bed sown wheat using osmoprimed seeds observed early and uniform emergence, lesser weeds infestation, higher wheat yield and net returns.

The impact of different weed control methods on weed infestation in maize (Zea mays L.)

“…Results showed that the integrated weed management tools tested in the different countries: provided sufficient weed control without any significant differences in yields, greatly reduced maize reliance on herbicides, and integrated weed management implementation was economically sustainable as no significant differences in gross margin were observed in any country compared to the conventional approach. Similar results were obtained by Hussain et al (2017). Verschwele et al (2016) found that, however, considering the variation of the residual weed density in this study, it is evident that the integrated weed management strategy may result in high weed seed production before harvest and consequently in weed problems in the succeeding crops.…”

Comparison of early season crop types for wheat production and nitrogen use efficiency in the Jianghan Plain in China

“…Ensuring early and vigorous crop establishment is a key factor in achieving maximum wheat yield under the RW cropping system. Previous results indicated that the seeding rate could be efficiently increased to enhance seed germination and seedling establishment, and thereby improve fertile tiller production ( Shah et al, 2020 ; Hussain et al, 2017 ; Song et al, 2016 ).…”

Response of Nitrogen and Plant Growth Regulators on Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…Spike length showed significant difference among all treatments however, highest spike length (15.10 cm) was observed in treatment 9 with application of N 3 -160 kg/ha + CCC (0.2%) + Tebuconazole (0.1%). Whereas, spike length (13.83 cm) of treatment 6 with application of N 3 -160 kg/ha + Tebuconazole -0.1% was found to be statistically at par with highest Hussain et al [17] and Ahmad et al [18]. They concluded that spike length of wheat increased significantly with increasing nitrogen levels.…”