Response of Wheat (Triticum eastivum L.) Crop to Planting Dates and Different Levels of Potassium Fertilizer on Yield Characteristics and Components

This experiment was conducted in Al-Khader area, Al-Muthanna Governorate, during the winter season 2023-2024, with the aim of studying the response of wheat to planting dates and levels of potassium fertilization on the crop and its components. The experiment was applied using split-plots and three replicates. The planting dates occupied the main plots, included three dates (20/11, 30/11 and 10/12-2022), while the levels of adding potassium levels in Subplot, included three levels (100, 140 and 180 kg ha-1 ). The results showed that the dates were significantly superior in some of the study traits, were the first date was superior on the biological yield (13.869 kg ha-1 ), and the grain yield (4.260 kg ha-1 ), while the third date was superior in the number of grains per spike (51.27 grains spike-1 ), and the harvest index (31.98%), which did not differ significantly from the first date, which amounted to 30.90%. As for potassium levels, the third level of potassium fertilizer addition was superior, by giving the highest average number of spikes (361.7 spikes m 2 ), while there was no significant effect for the rest of the studied traits. As for the interaction, the interaction treatment between the first date and the second level of potassium gave the highest average for biological yield and grain yield, reaching 14.688 and 4.550 kg ha-1 , while the interaction treatment of the third date and the third level of potassium gave the highest averages for grains number and harvest index, reaching 57.23 grains spike-1 and 39.16%.