Grain Yield and Some Agronomic Traits of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Influenced by Glycinebetaine and Humic Acid Application under dryland farming condition

Evaluation of humic acid (HA) and glycinebetaine (GB) effects on grain yield and some agronomic traits of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under dryland farming condition were objectives of this study.

A field study was carried out as split factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications during 2017-19 in Dryland Agriculture Research Station of West Azerbaijan province. The main plot included Baran and Azar2 cultivars, the first sub plot was seed treatment with and without 5% HA solution and the second sub plot was foliar application with 100 mM GB and control at the first stem node and pregnancy development stages.

The results showed a significant difference between Baran and Azar2 cultivars in terms of grain phosphorus concentration and its amount in Baran cultivar was 5.35% higher than Azar2 cultivar. HA significantly increased 1000-grain weight (2.94%), grain yield (5.76%) and grain phosphorus concentration (2.64%) traits. GB foliar application increased traits of 1000-grain weight (3.83%), number of grains spike-1 (5.28%), number of spikes m-2 (13.03%), grain yield (8.49%) and grain protein content (4.54%). In Baran cultivar, the interaction of HA and GB had no effect on harvest index, but in Azar2 cultivar, GB without HA increased the harvest index by 6.91%.

It is generally concluded that HA seed treatment and GB foliar application increases grain yield and protein content of rainfed wheat and can be applied as an effective method to improve Wheat production in dryland farming conditions.