Nitrification Inhibitor and Plant Growth Regulators Improve Wheat Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency

• DOI: 10.1007/s00344-020-10295-x
• Publication Date: 2021-01-22T10:07:54Z
• Authors: Khadim Dawar; Umar Rahman; Syed Sartaj Alam; Mohammad Tariq; Aamir Khan; Shah Fahad; Rahul Datta; Subhan Danish; Shah Saud; Muhammad Noor
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences; 6. Clean water

The field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of applying urea with nitrification inhibitor (NI) (Nitrapyrine) alone or in combination with gibberellic acid (GA-K salt), on improving wheat yield and N-use efficiency at The University of Agriculture (34.1°ʹ21″ N, 71°28′5′E), Peshawar-Pakistan. There were five treatments with four replications: control (no urea), urea (150 kg N ha−1), urea + nitrapyrin (525 g ha−1), urea + GA-K salt (60 g ha−1), and urea + nitrapyrin + GA-K salt, respectively. Wheat plant biomass, grain yield and total N uptake were enhanced by 31, 37 and 44%, respectively, when urea was applied together with nitrapyrin and GA-K salt over control. In addition, 1000 grains weight, grain spike−1, and spike length were also significantly increased when urea was applied with both nitrapyrin + GA-K salt. In conclusion, use of urea with 525 g ha−1 nitrapyrin or 60 g ha−1 GA-K salt has the potential to enhance N-use efficiency and yield components of wheat yield.