Optimizing wheat productivity and profitability through biostimulation across varieties

An investigation was carried out at Holi farm of MM(DU) Mullana – Ambala during Rabi season of 2022-2023 to examine varied response of wheat varieties to varied biostimulation treatments. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design having two factors which were replicated thrice. In first factor three wheat varieties were taken namely PBW824, PBW826 and PBW725 furthermore, in second factor, four biostimulation treatments were taken viz. control, additional irrigation, 2% KNO3 spray, 75 ppm salicylic acid spray. Upon scrutiny of data it was discovered that both varieties and biostimulation treatments had significant effect on productivity and profitability of wheat. Among varieties, it was observed that PBW826 was statistically superior to other varieties in number of grains spike-1 (47.90), grain yield (45.77 q ha-1), straw yield (57.66 q ha-1) and biological yield (103.43 q ha-1). Variety PBW826 also resulted in superior gross return (138048 Rs ha-1), net return (80163 Rs ha-1) and benefit cost ratio (2.38). However all the varieties were statistically similar in number of spikes (257.28 m-2), 1000 grain weight (41.15 g) and harvest index (44.23%). On the other hand, among biostimulation treatments, it was observed that 2% KNO3 spray resulted in significantly higher number of grains spikes-1 (49.51). However, it was observed that 75 ppm salicylic acid spray resulted in significantly higher dry matter (1062.64 g m-2), 1000 grain weight (42.70 g), grain yield (48.30 q ha-1), straw yield (59.78 q ha-1) and biological yield (108.08 q ha-1). Furthermore, it was observed that none of biostimulation treatment had any significant effect on number of tillers m-2, number of spikes m-2 and harvest index (%). Higher productivity of 75 ppm salicylic acid spray further resulted in superior gross returns (145645 Rs ha-1), net returns (87306 Rs ha-1) as well as benefit cost ratio (2.49).