Influence of Sowing Time, Crop Establishment Methods and Weed Control Practices on the Growth and Yield of Wheat

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi seasons of 2023-24 and 2024-25 at the Agricultural Research Farm, College of Agriculture, RVSKVV, Gwalior (M. P.), to assess the effect of sowing time, crop establishment method and weed control practices on growth and yield attributes of wheat. The experiment was conducted in a split-split-plot design (SPD), with treatments comprising three sowing dates (Second week of November-D1, Fourth week of November-D2 and Second week of December-D3) as main plots, three crop establishment methods (Normal line sowing at 22.5 cm-M1, FIRB sowing at 15 cm-M2 and Line sowing under zero tillage at 22.5 cm-M3) as subplots and three weed control practices (Clodinafop-propargyl 54 g/ha + Metribuzin 120 g/ha-W1, Clodinafop-propargyl 60 g/ha + Metsulfuron-methyl 4 g/ha-W2 and Weedy check-W3) as sub-subplots with three replications. Among the treatments, higher growth parameters (viz. plant height and dry weight/plant), yield-attributing characters (viz. total number of effective tillers/m2, number of grains/ear and 1000 grain weight (g)) and grain yield were recorded with sowing during the fourth week of November (D2) compared with other sowing dates, whereas the lowest values were recorded with sowing during the second week of December (D3). Higher values of growth parameters (viz. plant height and dry weight/plant), yield attributing characters (viz. total number of effective tillers/m2, number of grains/ear and 1000-grain weight) and grain yield were observed with FIRB sowing at 15 cm (M2) compared with the other crop establishment methods, particularly zero-tillage line sowing at 22.5 cm. The lowest values of growth parameters (viz. plant height and dry weight/plant), yield attributing characters (viz. total number of effective tillers/m2, number of grains/ear and 1000 grain weight (g)) and grain yield were recorded under the weedy check compared with the other treatments. Clodinafop-propargyl 60 g/ha + Metsulfuron-methyl 4 g/ha recorded the highest plant height, which was statistically comparable to Clodinafop-propargyl 54 g/ha + Metribuzin 120 g/ha. A significant interaction between sowing time and weed control treatments was observed for dry weight per plant at all growth stages except 30 DAS, and for grain yield. The highest recorded dry weight per plant and grain yield occurred with the interaction of fourth-week November sowing and Clodinafop-propargyl 60 g/ha + Metsulfuron-methyl 4 g/ha among the evaluated interactions.