Effect of Different Levels of Nitrogen and Potassium and Foliar Application of Boron On

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT NITROGEN beer etc.) and secondary products (e.g. AND POTASSIUM LEVELS AND FOLIAR starch, gluten etc.) (Hoegy and APPLICATION OF BORON ON WHEAT Fangmeier, 2008). According to the YIELD statistical data from FAO in 2009, the wheat harvested area in Egypt was * Sarwat M. Youssef , Salah E.-D. A. Faizy, 1321750 ha and the production was Mohamed H. Hegazy, and Hassan R. El-Ramady 8523000 ton (FAOSTAT, 2011). Wheat crop occupies an outstanding position among the world major crops; it is ABSTRACT the most important cereal crop flour for From the present study, it could be making bread in Egypt. concluded that the highest concentration of The consumption of wheat in Egypt is nitrogen in wheat grains was obtained at greater than production. The amount of 90 kg N fed-1 in the presence of potassium imported wheat is about 50% of the and spraying with boron. Increasing consumption. The increase of wheat nitrogen levels increased the amount of production is very important goal and must nitrogen uptake by grains of wheat. Also be achieved. the crude protein (%) in grains increased The solution may be by increasing the gradually with increasing nitrogen level in yield per unit area, through selection of the presence of potassium and spraying new high yielding varieties and application with boron. The highest concentration of K of the most favouvrable culture treatments. in grains of wheat was obtained at the high Supply of wheat with its need of fertilizers, levels of nitrogen in the presence of either macro or micro nutrients, is potassium and spraying with boron. Also considerd one of the most important factor the highest amounts of K uptake by the affecting yield of grains. grains of wheat were recorded by the high It is well known that nitrogen fertilizer levels of nitrogen in the presence of exerts significant effect on the growth and potassium and spraying of boron. yield of wheat plants. Most of the results obtained concering the effect of different levels of nitrogen on wheat showed that Key words: Nitrogen, potassium, boron, wheat, grain yield increased with increasing the and foliar applications level of application up to certain level. Abbreviations and units: Wheat is more prone to B deficiency Fed = Feddan = 4200 m2 = 0.42 ha than rice and maize, and some dicots Ardab of wheat = 150 kg including soybean and mungbean. L.E. = Egyptian pound = 0.16 $ (American dollar) Although it has been reported to adversely affect many processes of wheat growth I. INTRODUCTION and development, B deficiency depresses Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of commercial wheat yield primarily through the most important agricultural food and grain set failure, which is in turn caused by feed crops worldwide. Wheat supplies male sterility. The function of wheat about 20% of the energy and about 25% of anthers has been found to be impaired the protein requirements of the world when their B concentration per unit dry population (Evans, 1998). An additional weight was 10 times that found limiting for contribution to the human diet is via the vegetative growth. nutrition of animals that provide milk and The aim of this work is to investigate meat. Wheat is such a widely grown crop the effect of nitrogen and potassium levels because it can be used for a wide variety of in the presence and in the absence of food products (e.g. bread, cakes, cereals, boron on wheat yield and its components. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS * Prof. Sarwat M. Youssef E-mail: [email protected] The present investigation was Prof. Salah E.-D. Faizy, Prof. Mohamed H. Hegazy conducted at Kafr El-Sheikh, in the and Hassan El-Ramady ([email protected]) Northern Region of the Nile Delta, Egypt, Kafrelsheikh University, Soil Sciences Dept., Egypt -1 during 2002. EC = 1.60 dS m , pH = 7.9 - K + K (1:2.5), O.M. = 1.63 % and available N, K 20 and B were 20, 390 and 0.64 mg kg-1, ) respectively. d 18 e f /

Available N in the soil is extracted by b a 16 d K2SO4 and measured by Devarda alloy r a (

method according to Page et al. (1984). a 14 e

Available potassium was measured by h w

flame photometer in ammonium acetate o

extract according to Jackson (1958). e i 10 y

Available boron was measured using n i Without Boron a atomic absorption spectrometry using r 8 With Boron DTPA extraction according to Lindsay and G Norvell (1978). 6 0 30 60 90 120 . 0 30 60 90 120 The experiment was conducted using N le vels (k g/fe d) five nitrogen levels in the form of urea 46.5% (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg N fed-1). Fig. 1: Effect of graded N applications on grain yield of wheat in the presence and absence of K and B The levels of nitrogen were added in the presence and absence of potassium fertilization and also with and without boron - K + K spraying. The levels of potassium were (0 55 -1 and 50 kg K2O fed . in the form of potassium sulphate. After 80 days from 50 )

d 45 sowing, the boron solution at a e f / g

concentration of 0.1 % was sprayed in the k 40 (

form of boric acid. The experiment was e k 35 a t

carried out in a split–split plot design with p u

four replicates. N Nitrogen fertilizer was added in four 25 With Boron Without Boron -1 doses. The first dose, 15 kg N fed , was 20 -1 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 broadcasted together with 15 kg P2O5 fed 3 6 9 2 3 6 9 2 1 1 as calcium superphosphate (15.5% P2O5) N levels (kg/fed) -1 and 50 kg K2O fed as potassium sulphate Fig. 2: Effect of graded N applications on N uptake by (50 % K2O) at planting. The second dose (50% of the remaining dose of urea wheat in the presence and absence of K and B fertilizer) was applied at tillering stage (before the second irrigation). The third - K + K 18 dose (25% of the remaining dose) was applied at elongation stage (before the 16 14 third irrigation). The last dose (the rest of ) d

e 12 f dose) was applied at the flowering stage / g

k 10 (

(before the fourth irrigation). e

k 8 a t

p 6 III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION u

K 4 With Without Boron Boron Effects of N, K and B on the grain yield: 2 The effect of N, K and B on the grain 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 yield of wheat is presented in Fig. 1. The 3 6 9 2 3 6 9 2 1 1 results indicated that, with increasing N N le vels (k g/fe d) application level, the grain yield per fed Fig. 3: Effect of graded N applications on K uptake by increased (73.64%). The results showed wheat in the presence and absence of K and B that, when the nitrogen increased over 90 kg N fed-1 a decrease in the grain yield was observed. The results also in Fig. 2 showed that the nitrogen content in grains of wheat increased significantly with increasing N It could be concluded that increasing levels. The highest nitrogen content (49.08 nitrogen level up to 90 kg N fed-1 increased kg N fed-1) was obtained at level of N 90 kg the grain and straw (results not included) N fed-1. yield of wheat and its components; this The uptake of potassium by grains of increase was more pronounced in the wheat increased significantly with presence of potassium and spraying with increasing N levels up to 90 kg N fed-1 as boron. shown in Fig. 3. The highest content of It is clear that great beneficial of potassium in grain (16.99 kg K fed-1) was splitting nitrogen fertilizer into four doses, obtained with application 90 kg N/fed. potassium fertilization and foliar spraying Similar results were obtained by Faizy et with boron increased yield and protein al. (1986). content of wheat. The highest grain yield was obtained with 90 kg N, 50 kg K2O, 15 -1 kg P2O5 fed and foliar spraying with boron Quantitative approach: after 80 days from sowing at concentration The polynomial quadratic equations 0.1%. It could be recommended that using that were established to express the balanced fertilization increase the yield of response of wheat grains yield to nitrogen wheat. application in the presence and absence of boron and of potassium. These polynomial REFERENCES equations have been used to express the fertilizer–plant relationships (Hammad and Evans, L. T. (1998). Feeding the Ten El-Shebiny, 1999) Billion. Plants and Population Growth. Table 1 showed that the B0 values (the Cambridge University Press, yield when the N fertilizer units equal zero) Cambridge. increased from 9.85 to 10.01 (for B only), Faizy, S. E.-D. A.; M. S. Shams; M. M. 10.19 (for K only), and 10.30 (for B and K Rizk, A. M. Himissa (1986). Effect of -1 only) ardab fed . The B0 value is the the rate and time of urea application calculated grain yield when no N fertilizer on yield and yield components of added. These values depended on soil N wheat plants. J. Agric. Res. Tanta Uni. only. Vol. 12(4): 1205 – 1217. The return per feddan from the applied FAOSTAT (2011). Agricultural Data. Food optimum rates of N under N levels and Agricultural Organization of the treatments presented in Table 2. The United Nations, Rome. Online at return per feddan by using nitrogen with http://faostat.fao.org/ 10.10.2011. boron and potassium treatment (2059 L.E) Hammad, K. M.; G. M. El-Shebiny (1999). is greater than that by using nitrogen with Optimization of canola seed yield potassium (1838 L.E) or other treatments. under calcareous soil conditions. J. A key to understanding B deficiency in Agric. Sci. Mansoura Univ., 24 (11): wheat appears to be the relative sensitivity 7071-7084. of its reproductive process. Published Hoegy, P.; A. Fangmeier (2008). Effects accounts of responses to low B in field of elevated atmospheric CO2 on grain grown wheat invariably reported on the quality of wheat. Journal of Cereal effect of B deficiency on male fertility, grain Science, Vol. 48: 580–591. set and grain yield (Table 3). Evidence of Jackson, M. L. (1958). Soil chemical adverse effects of low B on vegetative analysis. Constable and Co. Ltd., parameters such as straw yield, tiller London. number, and secondary reproductive Lindsay, W. L.; W. A. Novell (1978). organs such as number of spikelets per ear Development of DTPA soil test. Soil is rare. In contrast to the effect on male Sci. amer. J. 42. fertility and grain set, B deficiency tended Page, A. L.; R. H. Miller; D. R. Keeney to increase the weight of individual grains (1984). Methods of soil analyses. (Rerkasem and Jamjod, 2004). Madison, Wisconsin, part 2, USA. Pant, J.; B. Rerkasem; R. genotypes in a warm, subtropical Noppakoonwong (1998). Effect of region. Agron. J. Vol. 86: 887–890. water stress on the boron response of Rerkasem, B.; S. Jamjod (2004). Boron wheat genotypes under low boron field deficiency in wheat: a review. Field conditions. Plant Soil, Vol. 202: 193– Crops Research, Vol. 89: 173–186. 200. Subedi, K. D.; C. B. Budhathoki; M. Rerkasem, B.; D. A. Saunders; B. Dell Subedi (1997). Variation in sterility (1989). Grain set failure and boron among wheat (Triticum aestivum) deficiency in wheat in Thailand. J. cultivars in response to boron Agric. (CMU) 5: 1–10. deficiency in Nepal. Euphytica, Vol. Rerkasem, B.; J. F. Loneragan (1994). 95: 21–26. Boron deficiency in two wheat

Table 1: Calculated wheat grain yield (ardab fed-1) as affected by different rates of nitrogen in the presence and absence of potassium and boron Calculated grain yield (ardab fed-1)

Treatments N0 N1 N2 N3 N4 0 kg N fed-1 30 kg N fed-1 60 kg N fed-1 90 kg N fed-1 120 kg N fed-1 N only 9.85 14.11 16.50 16.99 15.60 N with B 10.01 14.42 16.94 17.56 16.29 N with K 10.18 14.67 17.18 17.73 16.31 N with B + K 10.30 14.95 17.52 18.09 16.57 N only = nitrogen in the absence of each of B and K. N with B = nitrogen in presence of B and absence of K. N with K = nitrogen in presence of K and absence of B. N with B and K = Nitrogen in presence of B and K.

Table 2: Economic optimum nitrogen rate (Xopt), optimum yield (Yopt) and net returns of grain yield of wheat as affected by different treatments

Xopt Yopt Fertilizer Price of Total values Total values of Fertilizer Return cost Treatment Unit Unit price wheat (L.E of yield yield at control cost (L.E fed-1) fed-1 fed-1 (L.E unit-1) ardab-1) (L.E fed-1) (L.E fed-1) (L.E fed-1) N only 2.63 16.2 60 250 4066 2462 157 1604 N with B 2.74 16.7 60 250 4198 2503 162 1695 N with K 2.65 17.5 60 250 4385 2546 159 1838 N with B + K 2.64 18.1 60 250 4635 2575 158 2059 N only = nitrogen in the absence of each of B and K. N with B = nitrogen in presence of B and absence of K. N with K = nitrogen in presence of K and absence of B. N with B and K = Nitrogen in presence of B and K. One unit = 30 kg N fed-1

Table 3: Responses to boron in wheat (adapted from Rerkasem and Jamjod, 2004) Responsive parameters (% maxa) Non-responsive parameters Reference Seed yield Grains per spikelet mg per seed 51–61 25–73 106–121b Straw yield, ears per m2, Rerkasem et al. (1989) spikelets per ear 25–65 21–57 123–141b Straw yield, ears per m2, Rerkasem and Loneragan spikelets per ear (1994) 3–75 ------121–164b ------Subedi et al. (1997) 62–88 ------120–130b Above ground biomass, Plant Pant et al. (1998) height, Spikelets per ear a Relative to performance in B sufficiency. b Increased in low B.