Performance of Wheat Genotypes in Irrigated and Rainfed Ecosystems of Mid Hills of Himachal Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted to compare the performance of promising genotype VL 907 against the check varieties of wheat ‘HS 240, VL 738, VL 804’ and triticale ‘TL 2942’ in irrigated ecosystem under timely sown(4­11 Nov.) and late sown (25­30 Nov.)conditions at Malan and Bajaura. Significantly higher grain yield was produced by promising genotype VL 907 both at Malan (41.3 q/ha; 12.8%) and Bajaura (46.6 q/ha; 15.0%) compared to VL 804. Delay in sowing resulted in significant reduction in yield both at Malan (10.9 q/ha; 26.9%) and Bajaura (9.5%). VL 907 produced grain yield of 46.5 q/ha (Malan) to 48.7 q/ha (Bajaura) under timely sown conditions (4­ 11 November). Another experiment on same set of varieties tested at graded levels of nitrogen (40, 60 & 80kg N/ha) was conducted under rainfed conditions. Promising genotype VL 907 produced significantly more yield at Bajaura (31.5 q/ha) compared to checks and also at Malan location (18.0 q/ha) compared to checks VL 738 and VL 804. Crop responded significantly upto 80 kg N/ha (recommended level) at Bajaura. Significantly higher test weight was recorded by the test variety at both the locations. Thus, VL 907 proved to be a promising genotype both under irrigated and rainfed timely sown conditions of mid hills of Himachal Pradesh.