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EFFECT OF NITROGENOUS FERTILIZER APPLIED AT DIFFERENT DATES ON TAKE‐ALL, EYESPOT AND YIELD OF WINTER WHEAT GROWN ON LIGHT SANDY LOAM
Author(s) -
SALT G. A.
Publication year - 1959
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1959.tb02537.x
Subject(s) - biology , loam , acre , fertilizer , agronomy , weed , eyespot , crop , avena , agrostis , poaceae , zoology , botany , ecology , soil water
In a replicated field experiment on light sandy loam at Woburn, where winter wheat is a very uncertain crop, Cappelle and Holdfast, grown after potatoes with dung, yielded 50 and 41 cwt./acre of grain, respectively, when given 6 cwt./acre of Nitro‐Chalk in April, compared with 19 and 20 cwt./acre when unfertilized. The same fertilized plots yielded 29 and 19 cwt., respectively, in the second, and 25 and 17 cwt./acre, respectively, in the third year on the same land, whereas unfertilized plots of both varieties yielded only 9 and 5 cwt./acre. The decrease in mean yield from 27 cwt. in the first, to 15 and 10 cwt./acre in the second and third crops was associated with a decrease in ear number from 16.7 to 14.6 and 12.2, respectively, and with a striking decrease in weight of grain per ear, caused partly by a large increase in the proportion of small grains. Eyespot ( Cercosporella herpotrichoides Fron.) although present each year did not become prevalent; an increase in the percentage straws affected by take‐all ( Ophiobolus graminis Sacc.) from 9 to 15 and 26%, respectively, and a severe increase in weed infestation ( Agrostis gigantea ) appeared to be the main factors reducing yield. Nitro‐Chalk applied in April yielded most grain every year, and wheat fertilized at this time had less eyespot and take‐all than that fertilized in March. Fertilizer applied in May increased weed growth, failed to decrease take‐all and yielded fewer ears, less grain, and a higher proportion of tailcorn than did earlier applications.