Wheat Performance as influenced by Saline Irrigation Regimes and Cultivars

To study the effect of different levels of saline irrigation water on wheat yield and its attributes of different wheat varieties,four irrigation water salinity levels namely, Control (ground water); EC: 4 dS/m; 8 dS/m; and 12 dS/mand 4 wheat varieties including 3 salt tolerant (i.e.KRL-210, KRL-1-4, KRL-19 and one salt non-tolerant variety HD-2894 were tested during rabi seasons of 2009-10 and 2010-11 at Water Technology Center, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India.Maximum grain yield and biomass during 2009-10 were 5.03 t/ha and 12.45 t/harespectively, for non-tolerant variety HD-2894 irrigated with ground water. Highest wheat yield(5.25 t/ha)was recorded by HD-2894with ground water.Yield attributes were significantly affected by the saline irrigation water and wheat varieties. This study revealed that the salt tolerant variety can be recommended to achieve higher yields with increase in salinity of the irrigation water.