Proposed Seeding Pattern of Bread Wheat cv. Sardari in Cold Regions of Iran

To study response of bread wheat cv. Sardari to row spacing and seeding rate and to determine the desirable seed density under cold rain-fed conditions a two-year study (2008 and 2009) was carried out in Qamloo research station located in Kurdistan. A strip plot design with three replications was used. Four rows spacing including 15, 17.5, 20 and 25 cm as horizontal factor and four seeding rates including 350, 400, 450 and 500 seed per square meter as vertical factor were assigned. Regardless of seeding rates results it was shown that the row spacing had significant effect on grain yield and its components including spike per square meter, thousand kernel weight and grain per spike. The highest and the lowest grain yield values, 3993 and 2695 kg/ha, were observed in rows spacing of 15 cm and 25 cm, respectively. Row spacing of 15 cm with 821 spike/m2 and 40 g TGW was located over the others. Conversely, the lowest and the highest grain per spike (13 and 16 grain) were observed in rows spacing of 15 and 25 cm, respectively. With respect to the results obtained (non-significance of seeding rate effect), the best recommendation of Sardari cultivation practices in cold high elevation rain-fed areas are row spacing of 15 cm and seeding rates of 350-400 grain /m2 or 140-160 kg/ha.