Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECT OF CHROMIUM APPLICATION WITH AND WITHOUT AMENDMENTS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) GROWN ON SANDY LOAM SOIL OF MIDDLE GUJARAT, INDIA

J. K. Parmar and K.P. Patel

Abstract

The effect of Cr levels (0, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 mg kg-1 soil) in presence and absence of amendments (FYM @ 1 % and gypsum @ 50 % GR) on wheat (Var. LOK - 1) was tested in pot-house experiments conducted at Micronutrient Project, B.A. College of Agriculture, AAU, Anand during 2005-06. The sandy loam soil (Typic Ustochrepts) was collected from uncontaminated area of Nawagam-Vatva region; used for experiment laid out under factorial completely randomized block design keeping three replications. The application of 10 mg kg-1 Cr increased plant height, grain yield and root biomass of wheat, thereafter it was decreased. The high level of Cr was toxic to wheat as plant could not survive at Cr160 level. Among the amendments, application of FYM significantly increased plant height, yield and root biomass over control. Further, application of amendments possibly reduced the toxic effect of Cr when it was applied with Cr at different levels which caused increase in growth and yield of wheat over absolute control.