Int. J. Agr. Ext. 10 (01) 2022. 23-31 DOI: 10.33687/ijae.010.01.3522 23 Available Online at EScience Press International Journal of Agricultural Extension ISSN: 2311-6110 (Online), 2311-8547 (Print) https://esciencepress.net/journals/IJAE EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT SOWING METHODS FOR ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY AND WATER USE EFFICIENCY OF WHEAT UNDER LIMITED WATER CONDITIONS a Atif Riaz, a Mudassir Aziz*, a Abdul Ghaffar, b Wazir Ahmed, a Khuram Mubeen, a Muhammad Usman a Department of Agronomy, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan (Punjab), Pakistan. b Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan (Punjab), Pakistan. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History Received: February 03, 2021 Revised: September 19, 2021 Accepted: December 11, 2021 The selection of appropriate sowing methods is very important for improving water use efficiency. A field trial was conducted in the winter season of 2018-19 to investigate the impact of different sowing methods on the water use efficiency of spring wheat exposed to water deficit at anthesis. Wheat was sown with three different sowing methods viz. broadcast sowing, drill sowing and augmented furrow sowing and two different irrigation regimes i.e., normal irrigation and water deficit at anthesis stage. All agronomic practices were kept uniform throughout the experimental duration. Different sowing methods and irrigation regimes significantly affected the grain and straw yield of wheat. Among different sowing methods, the wheat crop was sown with augmented furrow method substantially produced maximum plant height (111 cm), no. of tillers per m 2 (427), 1000 grain weight (37.93 g), grain yield (4.73 t ha -1 ) and straw yield (4.24 t ha -1 ). Whereas, statistically maximum irrigation water use efficiency (17.72 kg ha -1 mm -1 ) and benefit-cost ratio (1.34) was recorded in the augmented furrow method of sowing of wheat exposed to water deficit at the anthesis stage. Farmers can sow wheat by using the augmented furrow method to improve grain yield and irrigation water use efficiency under water deficit at anthesis as compared to conventionally used drill and broadcast sowing methods. Keywords Drought Irrigation regimes Sowing methods Triticum aestivum L. Water use efficiency Corresponding Author: Mudassir Aziz Email: mudassiraziz@hotmail.com © The Author(s) 2022. INTRODUCTION Wheat is the leading cereal crop and staple food of the majority of the population of Pakistan. Although, Pakistan is the 8 th largest wheat producer in the world the country’s wheat productivity is less than that of other countries in the region like China, India and Bangladesh (Ahmad et al., 2021). Water use efficiency is becoming a serious concern for agriculture particularly in arid and semi-arid areas (Bhattacharya, 2019). The scarcity of water is further aggravating the situation in these areas by threatening crop productivity (Qasim et al., 2019). Food shortage is a major issue in many regions of the world including Asia and Africa (Aziz et al., 2015). Improving irrigation water use efficiency under the current scenario is becoming a serious global food security concern. Wheat is the leading cereal crop around the globe which is severely affected by different abiotic stresses (Bali and Sidhu, 2019). Water deficit is most destructive in terms of decreasing overall crop yield as compared to any other kind of stress like extreme temperature, cold and salinity (Noorka and Heslop-Harrison, 2014). Shortage of water not only