Growth, Nutrient Uptake and Yield of Wheat as Influenced by Foliar Sprays of Cattle Urine and Nitrogen

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of levels of nitrogen and foliar sprays of cattle urine on growth, yield, nutrient uptake and quality of wheat in Inceptisol at Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry and Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, College of Agriculture, Pune during Rabi (November) 2018. The experiment was conducted with three levels of nitrogen (0, 75 and 100%) through urea and five levels of cattle urine spray (CUS) (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%) (20, 40 and 60 days after sowing (DAS)) replicated thrice in Factorial Completely Randomized Design.

Application of 75% N through urea recorded higher plant height, number of tillers, number of functional leaves, leaf length, leaf width, chlorophyll content. However, application of 7.5% cattle urine foliar sprays (at 20, 40, 60 DAS) recorded significantly higher plant height, number of tillers, number of functional leaves, leaf length, leaf width, chlorophyll content. Further, similar both the treatments recorded significantly higher spike length, number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, test weight of wheat. Interaction effect of 75% N through urea along with 7.5% cattle urine foliar sprays (at 20, 40, 60 DAS) recorded significantly higher plant height, number of tillers, number of functional leaves, leaf length, leaf width, chlorophyll content at 30, 50 and 70 DAS of wheat. Significant interaction effect with similar treatment were also recorded significant results for spike length, number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, test weight of wheat.

Application of 75% N through urea recorded significantly higher grain (80.03 g pot-1) and straw (100.00 g pot-1) yield of wheat. While foliar spray of cattle urine @ 5% recorded significantly higher grain (72.06 g pot-1) and straw (92.41 g pot-1) yield of wheat. Significant interaction effect among combine application of 75% N through urea along with foliar spray of cattle urine @ 7.5% taken at 20, 40 and 60 DAS reported significantly higher grain (87.67 g pot-1) and straw (114.50 g pot-1) yield of wheat.

Nitrogen (3.08 gm pot-1), phosphorus (1.12 gm pot-1) and potassium (3.72 gm pot-1) uptake by wheat was found significantly higher with the application of 75% N through urea than 100% N application. While three foliar spray of cattle urine @7.5% taken at 20, 40 and 60 DAS recorded significantly nitrogen (3.15 gm pot-1), phosphorus (1.09 gm pot-1) and potassium (3.54 gm pot-1) uptake by wheat. But interaction effect for combined application was found non significant for the uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.