Effect of row spacing and seeding rate on grain yield and agronomic traits of rainfed bread wheat cultivar Azar2 in high elevation area of Iran

To study the response of bread wheat cv. Azar2 to row spacing and seeding rate and to determine the desirable density under cold rainfed conditions a two-year study (2008 and 2009) was carried out in Qamloo research station located in Kurdistan. Four rows spacing including 15, 17.5, 20 and 25 cm as horizontal factor and four seeding rates including 350, 400, 450 and 500 seed/m2 as vertical factor were assigned. Row spacing had significant effect on grain yield, spike per square meter and harvest index. Seed rate was not significant except for thousand kernel weight. The highest and the lowest grain yield values, 3506 and 2624 kg/ha, were observed in rows spacing of 15 cm and 25 cm, respectively. Row spacing of 15 cm with 638 spike/m2 and 29 g TGW was located over the others. The highest grain per spike (22 grain) were observed in rows spacing of 25 cm. Because of no significant difference among seeding rates, the best recommendation of Azar2 planting type for cold high elevation rainfed areas is row spacing of 15 cm and seeding rates of 350-400 grain /m2 or 140-160 kg/ha.