Effect of different Nitrogen fertilizer levels on agronomical and qualitative characteristics of several flue cured tobacco cultivars

In order to determine the effect of Nitrogen levels on flue-cured tobacco cultivars, three Nitrogen levels (17, 35, and 52 kg/ha) and three cultivars (K326, C176 and MN944) were investigated as factorial experiments in randomized complete block design in Tirtash Research and Education Center in 2005.in this study, the effect of Nitrogen levels on green leaf yield, cured leaf and effective chemical component on tobacco quality was evaluated. Addition of Nitrogen levels increased leaf length, leaf width, and green leaf yield and cured leaf yield. The effect of Nitrogen rate on leaf and width was significant in 45, 60, 75 and 90 days after transplanting. There were significant differences among cultivars for leaf width and length in 75 and 90 days after transplanting and the highest leaf width and length was obtained in K326 cultivar during growth stages. Also, there were significant differences among cultivars for green leaf yield and cured leaf yield. The higher and the lower of these two traits were related to K326 and C176 cultivar respectively. The increase of nitrogen levels increased Nicotine and total Nitrogen but had no effect on leaf total ash, sugar and potassium. There were significant differences among cultivar for Nicotine levels. The highest and the lowest Nicotine levels was related to MN944 and K326 respectively.