Role of gypsum in wheat production in rainfed areas

The success of wheat production in rainfed areas depends on conservation of rainfall received during monsoon season. Moisture conservation is generally done through deep ploughing and use of mulch. Some chemicals have also been tried with partial success but this practice could not become popular because of more expenses involved. An attempt has been made to assess the role of gypsum in this regard. The gypsum was applied @ 0, 1.25, 2.5, and 5.0 t ha^-1 before monsoon after deep ploughing with moldboard plough and the experiments were conducted for 3 years i.e. 2001-2002 to 2003-2004 at SAWCRI farm Chakwal. Application of gypsum resulted in increase in grain yield of wheat during three years. The impact of gypsum was most conspicuous during 2001-2002 with 98.5mm rainfall during wheat season. There was 46% increase in wheat yield with gypsum @ 2.5 t ha^-1. But during the next year, the same dose of gypsum could cause only 19% increase in wheat yield with the rainfall of 235 mm. In 2003-2004, the rainfall was 120 mm during growth period of wheat and the effect of gypsum was like the year 2001-2002. It can be inferred from the results that gypsum improved the wheat during all the years but the improvement was more conspicuous during years of less rainfall. Application of gypsum resulted in increased moisture contents in soil profile at sowing of wheat.