POLY ETHYLENE GLYCOL (PEG) OSMOPRIMING AFFECTS PHENOLOGY, PLANT HIEGHT AND BIOMASS YIELD OF RAINFEDWHEAT

Phenology, plant height and yield are important parameters of rainfed wheat affected by osmopriming. A two years experiment was conducted under rainfed condition to study the effect of osmopriming on phenology, plant height and biomass yield of rainfed wheat during 2004-05 and 2005-06 at Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Tarnab, Peshawar. Four PEG concentration HP, 10%, 20%, 30% poly ethylene glycol (PEG) and three seed priming duration (24 , 48, 72 h), along with dry seed included as a control. Two varieties (Bakhtawar-92 and Tatara) were used in this study. The experimental design was randomized complete block with split plot arrangement with three replications. Varieties were allotted to main plots whereas concentration and duration were allotted sub plots. The results showed that seed priming concentration, duration and their interaction significantly affected days to emergences, maturity and biomass yield. However, no significant effect of treatments was observed on days to heading, plant height, though their mean values were higher than control. Maximum days to heading (104.7 d) and plant height (94.4) were observed with 20% PEG 8000 and HP. Maximum days to physiological maturity (144.4) were recorded for control treatment; whereas, 10% PEG took maximum days to maturity (144.1). However, their differences were non significant. In all the experiments 24 h to 48 h duration was found to be the optimum. It is concluded that seed treated with 20% PEG for 24 h enhanced days to emergence, maturity and biomass yield of wheat compared with control and other PEG concentration over both years.