Agrometeorological indices in relation to phenology of wheat

Abstract

Field experiment was conducted at research farm of Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (long.750 46 / E, lat. 29010 / N and alti. 215.2 meters MSL) during Rabi season of the year 2015-16., to study the phenology and, heat and radiation use efficiency in wheat. Crop was sown on three different dates viz., D1- 2nd fortnight of November, D2- 1st fortnight of December and D3- 2nd fortnight of December as main plots and three varieties viz., V1-WH 1105, V2-DPW 621-50 and V3-HD 2967 as sub-plots in split plot design and replicated thrice. Results revealed that, during physiological maturity, HD 2967, WH 1105 has accumulated growing degree days (GDD) of 1811.8, 1730.1 and heliothermal units (HTU) of 12259.3, 11495.7 with coefficient of variation (CV) of 4% and 5%, respectively. While DPW 621-50 has accumulated 1670.3 growing degree days and 10956.1 heliothermal units during physiological maturity, respectively. In both the varieties i.e., WH 1105 and DPW 621-50 higher heat use efficiency (0.81 and 0.72) and radiation use efficiency (1.15 and 0.94) were obtained in crop sown on second fortnight of November. In WH 1105, DPW 621-50 and HD 2967 physiological maturity can be predicted using accumulated growing degree days and heat use efficiency.