Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECT OF MOISTURE STRESS MANAGEMENT ON SOIL MOISTURE AND ROOT GROWTH OF WHEAT

M. D. Patil, A. S. Dhindwal and S. Harish

Abstract

A field experiment entitled, “Effect of moisture stress management on soil moisture and root growth of wheat” was conducted at Hisar, during rabi seasons of 2010-11 and 2011-12. The treatment consisted of four moisture regimes in main plots viz., irrigation at crown root initiation (CRI) + 100 mm cumulative pan evaporation (CPE), CRI + 150 mm CPE, CRI + 200 mm CPE and CRI only, and six moisture stress management practices in sub plot viz., No moisture stress management, seed hardening (SH) by CaCl2, SH + KCl spray, SH + mycorrhizae application + KCl spray, SH + mycorrhizae + KCl spray + kaolin spray and pusa hydrogel application at sowing. The lowest soil moisture depletion during both the crop seasons was recorded in treatment CRI + 100 mm CPE and treatment irrigation at CRI only depleted highest soil moisture. Among the moisture stress management practices significantly highest soil moisture depletion was recorded in No moisture stress management treatment over other practices and the lowest soil moisture depletion during both the crop seasons was recorded in SH + mycorrhizae + KCl spray + kaolin spray. The highest root depth was recorded in CRI + 100 mm CPE and the lowest root depth was recorded in irrigation at CRI only during both the crop seasons. Similarly SH + mycorrhizae + KCl spray + kaolin spray recorded significantly highest root depth over other moisture stress management practices and the lowest root depth was recorded in No moisture stress management treatment during both season. The higher yield was recorded in moisture regime CRI + 100 mm CPE and moisture stress management practices SH + mycorrhizae + KCl spray + kaolin spray during both the crop seasons.