Yield, yield components and nitrogen use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in mushroom compost, biological fertilizer and urea application

More nitrogen use efficiency in crops is important for maintaining and developing sustainable agriculture. In order to study the effect of different levels of mushroom compost and different resource of nitrogen on yield, yield attributes and nitrogen use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), an experiment was conducted at Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, during 2009-2010. A completely randomized block design with three replications and 18 treatments was used. The experimental treatments were all combination of different levels of mushroom compost (0, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 t.ha-1) and three different resources of nitrogen [control (no fertilizer), urea fertilizer (150 kg.ha-1) and nitroxin biofertilizer (including Azotobacter sp. and Azospirillum sp.)]. Results indicated that dry matter, plant height, number of grains per plant, grain weight per plant and 1000 grain weight were increased significantly with gradually increasing levels of mushroom compost, while harvest index and nitrogen use efficiency were decreased with increasing mushroom compost levels. Grain weight and number of grains per plant and 1000 grains weight were increased 4.70, 2.98 and 1.56 times compared with control (without any fertilizer or any additives), respectively. In addition, results showed that urea fertilizer and nitroxin biofertilizer had significant effects on mentioned traits. However, results of present study suggest that nitroxin might not be suitable and successful biofertilizer to wheat production, if there is organic matter deficiency in the soil.