Agriculture for Sustainable Development 2(1):36-38, 2014/Article Maurya and Verma *Corresponding author email: shri_maurya@yahoo.com, 1 Deratment of Agronomy, I.Ag.Sc., BHU, Varanasi (UP)- 221 005, India GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) VARIETIES INFLUENCED BY POTASSIUM LEVELS IN CENTRAL UTTAR PRADESH SHRI PRAKASH MAURYA * AND S.K.VERMA 1 Department of Agronomy, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (UP) – 208 002, India Received: 24.02.2014 Revised accepted: 13.03.2014 ABSTRACT The field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2011-12 at CSAUAT Kanpur in sandy loam soil to find out the effect of potassium levels on growth and productivity of wheat varieties. The treatments were consisted of three wheat varieties viz. ‘PBW-343’, ‘K-307’ and ‘K-402’ and four potassium levels viz. 0, 40, 60 and 80 kg/ha in factorial randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Results revealed that the maximum yield attributing characters, grain yield (4889 kg/ha), gross returns (R 80041 /ha), net returns (R 37620/ha) and B: C ratio (1.88) was found in ‘PBW-343’. Among potassium levels, application of 80 kg K2O/ha recorded significantly the highest yield attributing characters, grain yield (5072 kg/ha) and economics over 40 kg K2O/ha and control and it were at par with the application of 60 kg K2O/ha Keywords: Economics, Growth, Potassium levels, Varieties, Yield INTRODUCTION Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is most staple and second most important food crop after rice in country, which contributes nearly one-third of the total food grains production. The crop mostly grown under irrigated conditions in diverse crop rotations. Agricultural intensification through the use of high-yielding crop cultivars, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and mechanization has been responsible for drastic increase in grain production in developing countries during the past three decades. However, growing global challenge of meeting increased food demand while protecting environmental quality, and this challenge must especially be met in cropping systems that produce maize, rice, and wheat (Cassman et al., 2002). Intensive agriculture has dramatically increased grain production in developing countries, but yield records in the dominant food-producing regions indicate a large gap between the current and potential yields of wheat (Neumann et al., 2010) which is an important crop because it contributes to food security in the country. Obtaining an increased and sustainable wheat yield will probably require integrated measures that include K fertilization to maintain soil fertility. In reality, it has often been reported that continuous rice-wheat cropping with unbalanced fertilization has rapidly depleted the soil available K (Liu et al., 2000) and significant crops yield response to K fertilization occurred (Huang et al., 2009). K deficiency is a worldwide problem and the K status of agricultural soils is also decreasing across the globe (Tan et al., 2012). Although decreasing yields from withholding K usually have emerged slowly compared to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) (Zhao et al., 2010), K nutrient management has become a major research topic. High-yielding crops with high biological yield absorb large amounts of nutrients to satisfy healthy plant growth (Sepat et al., 2010). The higher yields now commonly obtained must impose a greater drain on K reserves in the soil. Potassium is one of the essential nutrient elements for plants; it is involved in the processes of osmoregulation and cell extension, stomatal regulation, activation of enzymes, protein synthesis, photosynthesis, phloem loading, and transport and uptake (Pettigrew, 2008). It also enhances the plants ability to resist pest attack, moisture stress and cold condition. Adequate supply of this nutrient promotes the formation of fully developed grain with a high starch contents (Tahir et al., 2008). Keeping above facts in mind, the present investigation was carried out to study the effect of K fertilization on growth, yield and economics of wheat varieties. MATERIALS AND METHODS The field experiment was conducted at Students` Instructional Farm of college of agriculture at CSAUAT, Kanpur (UP) during Rabi season of 2011-12. The experimental farm falls under the Indo-Gangetic alluvial track in central Uttar Pradesh, located at an elevation of 125.9 m MSL in class II of land capability with irrigated conditions. Agriculture for Sustainable Development http://www.sustainableagriculture.in Agriculture for Sustainable Development 2(1):36-38, 2014/Article ISSN 2347-5358 (Print)/ 2349-2228 (Online)