Beneficial microorganism and phosphorus application influence growth, biomass and harvest index in irrigated and dryland wheat under calcareous soils in semiarid condition

Microorganism and Phosphorus Application Influence Growth, Biomass and Harvest Index in Irrigated and Dryland Wheat under Calcareous Soils

Abstract

Soluble phosphorus (P) is the major limiting mineral nutrient for crop production under both irrigated and dryland conditions in semiarid regions. Beneficial microorganisms (BM) convert insoluble P to soluble forms making them available for plants. Field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of phosphorus (P) and BM on growth, biomass and harvest index in irrigated and dryland wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Siren-2010) under calcareous soils in Northwestern Pakistan. The experiment was conducted under full (received five irrigations) and limited or dryland (received two irrigations) irrigated conditions at the Research Farm of The University of Agriculture Peshawar during winter 2012-13. The experiment under both full and limited irrigated conditions(IC) was laid out in randomized complete block design using three replications. The results revealed that growth, biomass and harvest indexwas significantly higher for full than limited condition and for treated plots (rest) than control. The interaction of BM x P x ICrevealed that that under full irrigated condition the increase in both P and BM levels (90 kg P ha^-1 and 30 L ha^-1, respectively)and under limited irrigated condition the intermediate levels of both P and BM (60 kg P ha^-1 and 20 L ha^-1, respectively) increased growth, biomass and harvest indexin wheat under calcareous soils in semiarid condition.