EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF SEED RATE AND NITROGEN FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT ON AGRONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND GRAIN YIELD COMPONENTS IN QUINOA SUMMER CULTIVATION IN FARS PROVINCE

Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of seed rate and nitrogen fertilizer management on quinoa trait, a two-year factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design was done during the summer of 2017 and 2018 in Kharameh  region. Experimental factors included seed rate at five levels of 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 kg ha^-1 and nitrogen at six levels of 120, 150 and 180 kg ha^-1 nitrogen divided into 2 (two leaf, Budding) and 3 times (two leaf, budding and pollination initiation), respectively. With increasing seed rate, grain yield increased from 1716.33 to 3622.92 kgha^-1 and increasing nitrogen from 120 to 180 kg ha^-1 increased the grain yield in the 2 and 3-time split treatments by 17.2% and 17.1%, respectively. Regarding the interaction between seed rate and nitrogen on grain yield, the highest yield was obtained at 10 kg ha^-1 seed with 180 kg ha^-1 N per hectare divided at 3 times with average yield of 3740 kg ha ^-1 and the lowest grain yield was obtained from interaction of 6 kg ha^-1  seed with 120 kg ha-1 of nitrogen split at two times with average yield of 1305 kg ha^-1 . With increasing seed rate, number of sub panicles per plant significantly increased from 6.95 to 14.6. Among nitrogen levels, the highest 1000-seed weight was obtained by treatment with 180 kg using three times (2.8 g). Whit increasing the number of nitrogen application times at each application level significantly increased grain yield and other measured indices.