Impact of sowing dates on different growth attributes and yield of wheat in North Western Himalayas

Sowing time is an important agronomic factor that significantly affects plant growth, development and yield. Similarly, suitable cultivar also plays an appreciable role in final productivity. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the Impact of sowing dates and varieties on different growth attributes and yield of wheat in North Western Himalayas. A Field experiment were conducted at Hill Agricultural Research and Extension Centre (HAREC), Bajaura (1074m altitude) and HAREC, Dhaulakuan (411m altitude) during rabi season of 2016-17 which comprises of three dates of sowings (25th October, 25th November, 25th December) and four varieties (HS-542, HS-490, HPW-349, VL-907) which was laid down in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications. Altitude plays a major role at both the locations and found that with decrease in temperature in delayed sowing the number of days taken to complete the physiological maturity decreased in all the dates and at all the locations. For grain and straw yield, Bajaura was found to be the most suitable location, showing significant superiority over all other locations. 25th October and 25th November sowings being at par with each other was significantly higher than 25th December sowing at all the locations. Among varieties, VL-907, HS-542 and HPW-349 being at par with each other had significantly higher grain and straw yield than HS-490. Bajaura gave significantly more number of effective tillers/m2 and emergence count. Sowing at 25th October and 25th November being at par with each other gave significantly more number of plants per metre square than 25th December sowing at both of the locations.