Effect of different dates of sowing on yield attributes, yield and quality of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars

A study was conducted during rabi2013-14 at Barley Research Area of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar with the objective to study the effect of different date of sowing on growth, yield and quality characters of barley cultivars. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with five date of sowing (30th October, 10th, 20th, 30th November and 10th December) in main plots and four cultivars (BH 902, RD 2552, DWRUB 52 and RD 2668) kept in sub plots replicated thrice. Crop sown on 30th October produced significantly higher values of growth parameters, yield attributes (115 productive tillers per meter row length, no. of grains per spike- 37 and test weight -46.90) and yield (grain yield- 4733 kg ha-1 and straw yield- 8368 kg ha-1). But it was statistically at par with 10th November sowing date. Grain protein content, hectoliter weight and bold grains percentage decreased significantly with delay in sowing while malt content percentage was recorded significantly higher (89.53%) in 10th December date of sowing. Among the cultivars DWRUB 52 produced significantly higher grain yield (4516 kg ha-1) and quality attributes like malt content (86.25%) than other cultivars.