Abstract
Two field experiments were conducted at El-Dakhla Oasis, New Valley Governorate, Egypt, during the two winter growing seasons of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 to investigate the effect of three date palm compost rates (0, 5 and 10 m3 fed.-1) and three nitrogen fertilizer rates (50, 70 and 90 kg N fed.-1) on the yield and yield components of bread wheat in the New Valley. The most important findings could be summarized as follow:
- Generally, yield and its attributes of wheat increased by adding compost. Application of 5 m3 fed.-1 compost treatment gave the tallest plants and the maximum straw and grain yields fed.-1, while application of 10 m3 fed.-1 compost treatment gave the highest values of spike length, spikelets number spike-1 and 1000-grains weight in both seasons, as well as application 10 m3 fed.-1 and 5 m3 fed.-1 compost treatments gave the maximum spikes number/m2 in the 1st and the 2nd seasons, respectively.
- Increasing nitrogen fertilizer rate up to 70 kg fed.-1 increased yield and its components of wheat in both growing seasons. The maximum values of plant height, spikes number/m2 and straw and grain yields fed.-1 were obtained by using 70 kg N fed.-1, while the tallest spike and the heaviest 1000-grains were obtained by using 90 kg N fed.-1 in both seasons.
- The tallest plants and the maximum values of spikes number m-2 and straw yield fed.-1 were recorded by applying 5 m3 fed.-1 compost with 70 kg N fed.-1 rate interaction treatment, while the maximum grain yield was recorded by applying 10 m3 fed.-1 compost with 70 kg N fed.-1 rate interaction treatment in both seasons. On the other hand, the highest values of spike length and spikelets number spike-1 were recorded by applying 10 m3 fed.-1 compost with 90 kg N fed.-1 rate in both seasons, while the heaviest 1000-grains weight were recorded by applying 10 m3 fed.-1 or 5 m2 fed.-1 compost with 90 kg N fed.-1 rate interaction treatments in both seasons.