Influence of Sowing Dates and Varieties on the Biological Yield of Wheat Crop (Triticum aestivum L.)

A field experiment was carried out in Dar-ul-Aman Research Farm, Kabul Afghanistan in 2017, to study the influence of sowing dates and varieties on the biological yield of wheat crop (Triticum aestivum L.). The experiment was laid out in RCBD with a split-plot arrangement having three replications. Wheat was sown in different sowing dates i.e., October 24th, November 2nd, 12th, and 22nd in main plots, whereas five wheat varieties (Chounth # 1-2010, Moqawim-09, Shisham Bagh-08, Dar-ul-Aman-07 and Solh 2002) were in sub plots. November 2nd planted wheat had a highest biological yield of (6642.1 kg ha-1) followed by October 24th and November 12th which gave (6576.5) and (5711.0 kg ha-1) respectively. The lowest biological yield of (2975.1 kg ha-1) was given by the wheat varieties sown on November 22nd. Among the all-wheat varieties, Solh 2002, had significantly higher biological yield of (6263.7 kg ha-1) followed by Shisham Bagh-08 with biological yield of (5571.8 kg ha-1). However, Moqawim-09 had lowest biological yield of (4976.8 kg ha-1) compare to other varieties. While, evaluating performance of different wheat varieties on different sowing dates, Solh 2002, resulted in maximum biological yield (7476.2 kg ha-1) on November 2nd followed by Dar-ul-Aman-07 (6933.3 kg ha-1) and Shisham Bagh-08 (6860.0 kg ha-1) on November 2nd and October 24th respectively. On the other hand, Dar-ul-Aman-07 had lowest biological yield among the varieties (2015.5 kg ha-1) on November 22nd, it shows that, Dar-ul-Aman-07 had highest biological yield on early planting but lower yield on late sowing dates. The study shows that delay in wheat planting or selection of other varieties rather than Solh 2002 and Dar-ul-Aman-07 reduces the biological yield of the crop.