Impact of climate change on wheat productivity in Ludhiana and Bathinda of Punjab

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1 Indian J. Agric. Res., 49 (4) 2015: Print ISSN: / Online ISSN: X AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE Impact of climate change on wheat productivity in Ludhiana and Bathinda of Punjab K.K. Gill *, Ritu Babuta, G.S. Buttar 1 and P.K. Kingra School of Climate Change and Agril. Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana , Punjab, India. Received: Accepted: DOI: / X ABSTRACT Climate is changing world over and is expected to continue to do so in future also and has potential impact on crop productivity. Punjab has a distinct sub-tropical climate with most rainfall occurring during summer mansoon. The main factors limiting wheat production in this region are rainfall and temperature. To investigate the weather variability impacts on wheat productivity in Ludhiana and Bathinda of Punjab, the present investigation was undertaken at Ludhiana and Bathinda with three dates of sowing i.e. 30 th Oct. (D 1 ), 15 th Nov. (D 2 ) and 30 th Nov.(D 3 ) and the three irrigation levels i.e. (recommended schedule), (one additional irrigation, after CRI stage) and (delayed irrigation by one week after heading). Two wheat cultivars viz. PBW 343 ( ) and WH 542 ( ) were also taken for studies and experiments were conducted during and A drastic decline in yield was observed during as compared to at both the locations. The crop sown on 30 th Oct. and 15 th Nov. gave better yield than the crop sown on 30 th Nov. The reduction in yield was more during at Bathinda as compared to Ludhiana. The analysis showed no significant effect in different irrigation schedules under three dates of sowing. Cultivar PBW 343 performed better than WH 542 during both the years under study and application of one additional irrigation after CRI stage increased grain yield over recommended irrigation schedule. Key words: Agroclimatic zones, Climate change, Irrigation schedules, Sowing dates,, Wheat. INTRODUCTION Wheat (Triticum spp.) is the major rabi crop in India and its productivity is greatly influenced by various biotic and abiotic stresses like inter and intra-seasonal weather variability, soil condition and agricultural inputs apphid (Lal et al, 1998). The growth and development of wheat crop apart from being governed by genetic characterstics, depends largely on a number of environment factors which vary under different sowing dates. Late sowing of the winter crops influences the yield considerably. Wheat crop is generally sown after rice or cotton under Punjab condition. The delay in sowing shortens the total span of crop growth and such crop suffers yield penality due to sudden rise in temperature at the later stages of the crop growth. The changes in seasonal temperature affect the grain yield mainly through phenological development processes. This penality on grain yield can be minimized by changing the sowing time which also varies with varieties. The Asian countries are more vulnerable to climate change including India. The more important component of climate change are the decline in rainfall and rise in temperature. The vulnerability of wheat yield is expected to increase in future due to expected rise in future temperature. The availability of irrigation water especially during rabi season also limits the wheat yield. Temperature rise would be mitigated through applying irrigation as per scientific evidence obtained so far. Keeping this in mind, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different dates of sowing and irrigation scheduling on wheat productivity under changing climate scenarios. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was conducted in Punjab, India, during rabi seasons of and at two locations i.e. Ludhiana and Bathinda, representing two agroclimatic zones of the Punjab state. Ludhiana is situated in central plain agroclimatic zone, representing the Indo-Gangetic alluvial plain located at N latitude, E longitude and at an altitude of 247 m above mean sea level and Bathinda is situated in South western zone located at 30 o 36 N latitude, 74 o 28 E longitude and 211 m above mean sea level. These two locations are characterized by sub-tropical semi-arid type of climate with hot summer and severe cold winter. The mean *Corresponding author s kgill2002@gmail.com, 1 Deptt. of Agronomy, PAU, Ludhiana.

2 Volume 49, Issue 4, maximum and minimum temperature did show considerable fluctuations during summer and winter, respectively. The day temperatures may reach upto 44 o C and 46 o C during summer at Ludhiana and Bathinda, respectively. May is the hottest month and January is the coolest month for both the locations. During winter the night temperature sometimes go down even to 0 o C. The average annual rainfall is 755 and 400 mm, respectively for Ludhiana and Bathinda. Approximately 80 per cent of which is received during south-west monsoon season (June to September). The soil is loamy sand with alkaline reaction at Ludhiana and sandy loam at Bathinda. Meteorological data recorded during crop seasons of and for both locations have been depicted in Fig. 1 and 2. The total rainfall received for Ludhiana station was 56.2 and 49.5 mm, respectively during crop seasons of and The rainfall received was comparatively less at Bathinda being 44.7 mm during and 34.2 mm during Experimental treatments and procedures: The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three dates of sowing and three irrigation levels were allotted to main plot and two cultivars were fixed in sub plots and 3 replications. The size of sub plot was m 2 and each sub plot was separated from the other by a buffer of 50 cm width. Analysis of variance was performed to determine the effect of treatments. The two cultivars selected for the experiment were PBW 343 ( ) and WH 542 ( ). The first sowing (D 1 ) was done on 30 th October, second (D 2 ) was on 15 th November and third (D 3 ) was done on 30 th November during both the years of study. Three irrigation levels comprised of recommended schedule ( ), one additional irrigation given after CRI stage ( ) and one delayed irrigation by one week after heading ( ). The field was cultivated thoroughly with the help of tractor mounted cultivator. After that the main plots were divided into sub plots and buffers. The sowing was done with seed cum fertilizer drill at a depth of 4-6 cm keeping a row to row spacing of 22 cm in order to have recommended planting density. The seed rate for PBW 343 and WH 542 was to the tune of 100 and 87.5 kg/ha, respectively. Seed treatment was also done before sowing with 4 ml of Dursban 20 EC per kg seed, dried the seed in shade and then treated the seed with 2 g/ kg seed. The recommended dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and of 125, 62.5 and 30 kg/ha, respectively was applied. Fifty per cent N and 100 per cent P & K were applied as basal dose and fifty percent N was applied with the first irrigation for all the dates of sowing studied at both the locations. The first irrigation was applied as per the treatment schedule after 21 days after sowing. After that irrigations were FIG 1: Temperature and rainfall conditions at Ludhiana during rabi and FIG 2: Temperature and rainfall conditions at Bathinda during rabi and given as per irrigation schedules. The depth of each irrigation was kept at 7.5 cm for all the plots. Rescheduling of irrigation was done if there was rainfall. Irrigation application was stopped 15 days before harvest. Weeds were controlled by applying Stomp ml mixed in 500 litres of water, and applied at two days after sowing. During both years, the left over weeds were removed by giving two hand weedings. In the first year crop was harvested manually on 10 th April, second on 15 th April and third on 18 th April at Ludhiana and with ±2 days at Bathinda. During second year, as the temperature was very high in the month of March, harvesting was done earlier. The first, second and third dates of harvest was 5 th April, 10 th April and 12 th April, respectively at Ludhiana and ±2 days at Bathinda. Plant height, leaf area index (LAI), 1000 grain weight, number of grains per ear and number of tillers were recorded before harvest. The height of plant was measured from the base of the plant to the top of the ear. The LAI was determined by Plant Canopy Analyzer LICOR, model LI The dry weight of plant was taken after drying at 65 0 C till constant weight was achieved. The number of tillers and grains were counted at harvest from randomly selected five plants. The weight of grains was calculated by weighing the grains obtained from five

3 370 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH randomly selected ears and the average weight was expressed at 14 percent grains moisture content. The grain yield (wheat) was expressed in kg/ha at 14 percent moisture content. The harvest index was calculated by dividing the seed yield with biological yield and was taken as percentage (Nichiporovich, 1995). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Effect of dates of sowing on wheat yield and yield attributes: The wheat crop generally grown in central plain zone is sown after kharif rice crop and in western zone it is sown after kharif cotton crop. The crops like cotton and sugarcane generally delay the wheat seeding and this led to the first sowing in western zone to 5 days later than first sowing being done in central plain zone but the other two sowings were the same. The maximum yield was obtained during first date of sowing (D 1 ) and yield reduction occurred with delay in sowing to second (D 2 ) and third date of sowing (D 3 ). The maximum yield was obtained, when the crop was sown on 30 th October (39.17 and q/ha) followed by 15 th November (37.71 and q/ha) and lowest grain yield was obtained by 30 th November sown crop (33.9 and 30.0 q/ ha) at both the locations, respectively during (Table 1 & 2). Similar results were obtained during second year of study ( ) though the yield obtained was very low. Maximum yield obtained under 30 th October sowing was due to increase number of tillering, number of grains per plant and 1000 grain weight as compare to other sowings. During two years of study, grain yield varied significantly among the three dates at both the locations. The grain yield decreased significantly with delay in sowing during both the years but reduction in yield is more during at Bathinda as compared to Ludhiana. During the first and second year at Ludhiana, 30 th Oct. and 15 th Nov. sown crop resulted in 13.4, 10.1 and 22.6, 17.2 higher grain yield than 30 th Nov. sown TABLE 1: Yield and yield attributing characters as influenced by different dates of sowing and varied irrigation levels at Ludhiana during rabi and Treatments Yield Attributes Yield (q /ha) No of tillers/ 5 plant No of Grains/5 plant 1000 grain wt (g) Dates of Sowing th October th November th November C D (5%) C D (5%) C D (5%) TABLE 2: Yield and yield attributing characters as influenced by different dates of sowing and varied irrigation levels at Bathinda during rabi and Treatments Yield Attributes Yield (q /ha) No of tillers/ 5 plant No of Grains/5 plant 1000 grain wt (g) Dates of Sowing th November th November th November C D (5%) C D (5%) C D (5%)

4 Volume 49, Issue 4, crop, respectively. However, at Bathinda the respective decrease was 19.8%, 16.5 % and 32.1%, 19.0%. The difference in yield between the two seasons may be due to sudden rise in temperature at maturity stage during the second year of study. Hundal and Kaur (2007) revealed that increase in temperature by 4 o C decreased yield significantly. At Ludhiana, the average maximum temperature during the month of March 2010 was 31.0 o C which was about 5.0 o C above normal. Whereas, during 2009 it was 3.0 o C above normal. During 2010 March, it was totally dry against the normal rainfall of 26.1 mm. Similar type of condition was prevailed at Bathinda but with greater difference in temperature than normal conditions. The maximum temperature prevailed was 31.5 o C during March 2010 and no rainfall was received during the month. Whereas, 7.7 mm rainfall was received during March 2009 and the temperature was also low recorded as 28.4 o C for the month of March. At both the locations the maximum temperature rose rapidly in second fortnight of March and reached upto 36.6 o C and 37.6 o C at Ludhiana and Bathinda, respectively. Sowing time is an important non-cash input that affects the wheat productivity. The traditional wheat varieties that were grown before green revolution during mid October but with the advent of dwarf high yielding varieties sowing time was shifted to first fortnight of November as they required low temperature at tillering stage. Again during last 4-5 years with sudden rise in temperature during February and March, the crop grown in last week of October or first week of November gave higher yield in Northern plains. Effect of irrigation levels on wheat yield and yield attributes: Depending upon the availability of irrigation water, it should be applied at critical physiological stages of crop. An additional irrigation given after CRI stage resulted in more yield in treatment than the other two treatments but there was not much significant difference observed among the irrigation treatments in terms of yield. The irrigation applied one week after heading stage affected the yield and other yield contributing characters during both the years of study. A significant reduction in wheat yield was found by skipping irrigation at heading stage at both the locations. Among the various irrigation schedules, the higher grain yield (37.46 q/ha) for Ludhiana and (35.18 q/ha) Bathinda was obtained with application of additional irrigation given at one week after CRI stage, which was statistically at par with the recommended irrigation schedule of irrigation to wheat crop (34.02 and q/ha) for Ludhiana and Bathinda, respectively during Similar results were obtained during at both the locations. during , a drastic reduction in yield was observed in treatment (26.35 & q/ha), whereas other two treatments are at par to each other. Genotypes differed significantly for number of tillers, number of grains, 1000 grain weight (except in ) as well as grain yield (Table 1). In general, the highest number and grain weight was recorded with genotype PBW 343. PBW 343 performed better during 2009 in terms of heat use efficiency for grain yield as compared to 2010 (Mian et al 2007; Nagarajan et al 2008). Performance of growth characters: During both the years, the growth parameters like plant height recorded in 15 th November sowing crop was slightly higher than other dates of sowing but plant height and LAI did not vary much under different sowings at both the locations. The plant height got increased significantly up to 90 DAS but at harvest it was found to have statistically non significant. At Ludhiana region, during first year of study the second and first sowings resulted in 8.3 and 12.0 percent more plant height as compared to third date of sowing, whereas, during 2010 the increase was 14.0 and 16.6, respectively. The differences in plant height were more at Bathinda. Among various irrigation schedules, the maximum plant height was recorded in treatment which was at par with I1 during both the years of study. The irrigation levels of and resulted in 1.2 and 13.1 percent did record shorter plant height than during 2009 and almost similar results were found during 2010 at Ludhiana. However, at Bathinda the irrigation levels showed 2.0 and 14.1 percent increase over and treatments, respectively during The differences in plant height among irrigation levels were less during The dry matter accumulation data was also taken at regular intervals and the dry matter accumulation at harvest was presented in Table 3 & 4 for both the locations. In general more dry matter was accumulated in cv. 343 as compared to WH 542 for all the three dates of sowings. In cv. PBW 343 the recorded higher dry matter accumulation was 1387 q/ha where as for WH 542 it was 1178 q/ha during first year of study at Ludhiana while during second year of study corresponding values were 2148 and 1547 q/ha, respectively. Whereas for Bathinda region these values were lower as compared to Ludhiana. Early sown crop had higher value of dry matter accumulation as compared to late sowings. In central plain zone the 30 th Oct. and 15 th Nov. did gave 28.5 and 18.6 percent more dry matter accumulation than 30 th Nov. during the first year of study, while the increase was 8.5 and 36.9 percent during second year of study. During both the years the treatment showed a little more accumulation of dry matter than treatment but it was significantly higher than treatment during both the years of study at Ludhiana.The harvest index showed similar trend as that of

5 372 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TABLE 3: Plant height (cm), Leaf area index (LAI), dry weight and harvest index of wheat as influenced by dates of sowing and irrigation levels at Ludhiana during rabi and Treatments Plant height (cm) (90 DAS) Wheat dry weight (q /ha) Harvest Index Dates of Sowing th October th November th November CD (5%) NS CD (5%) NS NS CD (5%) NS NS TABLE 4: Plant height (cm), dry weight and harvest index of wheat as influenced by dates of sowing and irrigation levels at Bathinda during rabi and Treatments Plant height (m) (90 DAS) Wheat dry weight (q /ha)at Harvest Harvest Index Dates of Sowing th November th November th November CD (5%) CD (5%) NS CD (5%) NS NS dry matter and grain yield for different years as well as for different cultivars studied The results of the present field investigation revealed that the delay in wheat sowing from October to end November resulted in significant reduction in yield. The temperature affected the wheat yield significantly and the reduction in yield was more in south western zone. This indicates that the south western zone is more vulnerable to changing climate as compared to central plain zone of Punjab. The weather during 2009 remained favorable for the wheat crop but it was not much favorable during The average minimum temperature during the maturity stage of 2010 was higher by 1.8 o C than normal at Ludhiana and 2.0 o C at Bathinda, respectively. The daily maximum temperature during grain filling in the year 2010 remained higher by 2-3 o C than optimum at both the locations, which may had adversely affected grain filling. REFERENCES Hundal, S.S. and Kaur, P. (2007). Climatic variability and its impact on cereal productivity in Indian Punjab. Current Science. 92: Lal, M., Singh, K. K., Rathore, L.S., Srinivasan, G. and Saseendran, S. A. (1998). Vulnerability of rice and wheat yields in north-west India to future changes in climate. Agric.For. Meteorol, 89: Mian, M. A., Mahmood, A., Ihsan, M. and Cheema, N. M. (2007). Response of different wheat genotypes to post anthesis temperature stress. J. Agric. Res. (Lahore) 45: Nagarajan, S., Anand, A. and Chaudhary, H. B. (2008). Responses of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) genotypes under changing environment during grain filling period. Indian J. Agric. Sci. 78: Nichiporovich, A A. (1995). Aims of research on the photosynthesis of plants as a factor of production. Crop Res. 9: Tiwari, S. K. and Singh, M. (1993) Yielding ability of wheat (Triticum aestivum) at different dates of sowing a temperature dependent performance. Indian J. Agron. 38: