THE INFLUENCE OF SOWING DATE AND SEED RATE ON WINTER WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) PRODUCTIVITY

Abstract

The experiment, in which winter wheat was sown at different dates (7, 14, 21, 28 September, and 5 October) and at different seed rates (5, 4, 3, and 2 million seeds ha^-1), was carried out at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, between 2021 and 2022. The soil of the experimental field was Cal(ca)ri-Epihypogleyic Luvisol. Before the experiment was installed, the topsoil had a neutral reaction (pH-7.0), medium humus content (2.15%), high phosphorus content (226 mg kg^-1), and medium potassium content (143 mg kg^-1). The results obtained showed that grain yields ranged from 6.5 to 8.1 t ha^-1, the 1000-grain weight ranged from 37 to 46 g, the number of grains per ear ranged from 50 to 82, and the percentage of protein and wet gluten in the grains was 12.6–14.6% and 24.3–29.0%, respectively.