Impact of nitrogen levels and varieties on growth, development and yield attributing characters of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under timely sown conditions in western Uttar Pradesh

Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), known as the "King of cereals", is the most important cereal crop of the world grown on the largest area, with an annual production of over 805 million tonnes at a productivity of 3.43 tonnes per hectare. (Vimal et al., 2026) [1] . Wheat is the most important staple food crop of the world and the backbone of India's food security. It is an important winter cereal contributing approximately 35 percent of the total food grain production in India. (Rajnesh et al., 2026) [2] . In general, wheat contains carbohydrate (70%), protein (12%), lipid (2%), vitamins and minerals (2% each) and crude fibre (Archna et al., 2023) [3] . In 2024-25, the world area under wheat cultivation was 234.32 million hectares with a production of 805.85 million tonnes and an average productivity of 3.43 t ha -1 (USDA, 2025) [4] . India ranks second in wheat production after China, occupying about 19.45 per cent of the world wheat area and contributing nearly 14 per cent to global production, with an annual production of 117.95 million tonnes from 33.41 million hectares at a productivity of 3.507 t ha -1 during 2024-25 (Annual Report, 2024-25) [5] . Nitrogen plays a key role in wheat development and growth, and proper management strategies are necessary for sustainable wheat production in India. (Kumar et al., 2025) [6] . One of the biggest obstacles to raising the commercial yield of crops is the current increase in fertilizer prices. Therefore, measures to reduce its losses and improve its economic utilization are required (Lokendra et el., 2024) [7] . Fertilizer N management strategies need to be formulated to address the challenges of increasing agricultural productivity and improving sustainability. (Singh et al., 2025) [8] . Varietal selection plays a role in determining yield potential. (Kumar et al., 2025) [9] . The choice of right varieties of wheat helps to augment crop productivity by about 20-25 per cent. Thus, the value of stable and high yielding varieties has been universally recognized as an important factor for boosting crop production. (Verma et al., 2025) [10] . Presently, development of new varieties for higher yields has reached a plateau and no further increase is achieved unless biotechnological interventions are made (Archna et al., 2023) [3] .

Materials and methods

The ) and potassium (215.80 kg K 2 O ha -1 ), with a pH of 7.89 and organic carbon content of 0.37 per cent. The experiment comprised twelve treatment combinations consisting of four levels of nitrogen, viz., 0 (N 0 ), 75 (N 1 ), 150 (N 2 ) and 225 (N₃) kg N ha⁻¹, and three wheat varieties, viz., DBW-303 (V 1 ), DBW-371 (V 2 ) and HD-3298 (V 3 ), replicated thrice in a Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD). A uniform basal dose of 60 kg P 2 O 5 ha -1 and 40 kg K 2 O ha -1 was applied through DAP and MOP, respectively, along with one-third of the treatment dose of nitrogen through urea at sowing, while the remaining two-third nitrogen was top-dressed in two equal splits after the first and second irrigations.

Results and discussion

Growth characters of wheat at harvest

Nitrogen levels

Data presented in Table 1 reveal that number of shoots m -1 row length increased progressively and significantly with each increment in nitrogen level, from 172.58 (N 0 ) to 182.83 application of N @ 225 kg ha -1 (N 3 ). Similar improvement in tillering and crop stand with increasing nitrogen/nutrient levels has been reported by Singh et al., (2024) [11] , Kumar et al., (2025a) [6] , Gupta et al., (2025a) [12] and Kumar et al., (2025) [9] . Plant height increased significantly with nitrogen levels, being maximum under application of N @ 225 kg ha -1 (N 3, 106.45 cm) and minimum under control (N 0 , 89.76 cm), owing to nitrogen's role in promoting cell elongation and internodal growth. These results corroborate the findings of Archna et al., (2023) [3] , Singh et al., (2025a) [8] , who observed increasing plant height from 100 to 200 kg N ha -1 ; Verma et al., (2025) [10] and Nagar et al., (2026) [13] and Vimal et al., (2026) [1] , Singh et al. (2023) [14] and Singh et al., (2024b, 2024c) and Rathor et al., (2025) [15] . Dry matter accumulation increased markedly with nitrogen level, from 97.30 g (N 0 ) to 125.28 g application of N @ 225 kg ha -1 (N 3 ), reflecting improved leaf area development and photosynthetic efficiency under adequate nitrogen nutrition. This finding is in agreement with Vimal et al., (2026) [1] and Nagar et al., (2026) [13] , Gupta et al., (2025b) [16] , Kumar et al., (2026) [17] , Rathor et al., (2025) [15] and Kumar et al., (2025b) [18] . Days to 75% spike emergence and days to maturity: Nitrogen levels significantly influenced phenology, with application of nitrogen @ 150 kg ha -1 recorded the earliest 75% spike emergence (87.36 days) and maturity (134.11 days), while control took the longest (92.11 and 142.36 days,). Application of N @ 225 kg ha -1 (N 3 ) matured slightly later than application of N @ 150 kg ha -1 ), indicating that a threshold nitrogen level promotes efficient reproductive transition, whereas further increase prolongs vegetative growth marginally. Comparable delay in flowering and maturity under higher/combined nutrient regimes has been reported by Sharma et al., (2025) [19] , Kumar et al., (2025a) [6] and Gupta et al., (2025a) [12] , Rajnesh et al., (2026) [2] and Summan et al., (2025) [18] .

Figure 1. Growth and development characters of wheat at harvest stage as influenced by nitrogen levels and varieties.

Effect of varieties

Among the three varieties, DBW-303 (V 1 ) recorded the maximum number of shoots m -1 row length (182.16), which was significantly superior to varieties DBW-371 (V 2 , 179. 19) and HD-3298 (V 3 , 172.31). Similar varietal differences in tillering and crop stand have been reported by Rajnesh et al., (2026) [2] , Kumar et al., (2025b) [18] and Summan et al., (2025) [18] . Plant height also varied significantly among varieties, with variety DBW-303 (V 1 ) recording the tallest plants (108.83 cm) at harvest, followed by variety DBW-371 (V 2 , 103.87 cm), while variety HD-3298 (V 3 ) remained the shortest (88.54 cm). Comparable varietal differences in plant height have been reported by Verma et al., (2025) [10] , Singh et al., (2025a) [8] , Kumar et al. (2025b) [18] and Rajnesh et al. (2026) [2] . Dry matter accumulation followed a similar results, being maximum in variety DBW-303 (V 1 , 122.11 g), followed by variety DBW-371 (V 2 , 115.76 g) and minimum in variety HD-3298 (V 3 , 94.51 g). These results are supported by Verma et al., (2025) [10] , Singh et al., (2025a) [8] , Summan et al., (2025) [18] and Kumar et al., (2025b). Phenology (days to 75% spike emergence and days to maturity): variety DBW-303 (V 1 ) attained 75% spike emergence earliest (92.95 days) and matured earliest (135.83 days), whereas variety HD-3298 (V 3 ) required significantly more time for both spike emergence (96.95 days) and maturity (141.74 days), with variety DBW-371 (V 2 ) being intermediate (93.61 and 137.49 days, respectively). Similar varietal differences in days to maturity have been documented by Singh et al., (2023) [14] , Singh et al., (2025a) [8] , Sharma et al., (2025) [19] and Rajnesh et al., (2026) [2] in wheat, and by Summan et al., (2025) [18] .

Yield attributing characters

Effect of nitrogen

The data presented in Table 2 reveal that all the yield-attributing characters of wheat, viz. spikelets spike -1 , grains spike -1 , spike length, grains weight spike -1 and 1000-grain weight, were significantly influenced by different nitrogen levels. A progressive increase in these characters was recorded up to application of nitrogen @ 150 kg ha -1 (N 2 ), with maximum of spikelets spike -1 (16.76), grains spike -1 (62.12), spike length (13.25 cm), grains weight spike -1 (4.08 g) and 1000-grain weight (42.36 g), beyond which a decline was observed at application of nitrogen @ 225 kg N ha -1 (N 3 ). The lowest for all attributes were recorded under the control (N 0 ), confirming the fundamental role of nitrogen in promoting cell division, chlorophyll synthesis, tillering and translocation of photosynthates towards the developing spike (Archna et al., 2023) [3] . This progressive improvement in yield attributes up to an optimum nitrogen level is well corroborated across the wheat literature from this research group. Lokendra et al., (2024) [7] and Singh et al., (2025) [8] reported that the nitrogen level of 150 kg N ha -1 . Similarly, Kumar et al., (2025) [6] , Nagar et al., (2026) [13] , Vimal et al., (2026) [1] , Gupta et al., (2025a) [12] working with precision nitrogen management. The decline in yield attributes at 225 kg N ha -1 in the present study, however, contrasts with reports where attributes increased continuously up to the highest nitrogen dose tested, largely because those studies did not extend testing beyond 150-200 kg N ha -1 (Singh et al., (2023) [14] , Singh et al., (2024a) [11] ; Singh et al., (2024b) [20] , Kumar et al., (2025) [6] , Rathor et al., (2025) [15] , Gupta et al., (2025b) [16] Nagar et al., (2026) [13] and Vimal et al., (2026) [1] .

Effect of varieties

Among the varieties, DBW-303 (V 1 ) recorded significantly superior yield-attributing characters, viz. spikelets spike -1 (17.65), grains spike -1 (62.15), spike length (13.04 cm), grains weight spike -1 (3.98 g) and 1000-grain weight (42.09 g), over DBW-371 (V 2 ) and HD-3298 (V 3 ), the latter recording the lowest values for all characters studied. This superiority of a specific high-yielding genotype over others is a consistent finding across wheat varietal studies conducted at this research station. Verma et al., (2025) [10] , Singh et al., (2025) [8] and Singh et al., (2026) [21] , reported that variety DBW-187 significantly outperformed HD-2967 and RAJ-3765 in number of spikes m -1 , spike length, grains spike -1 and test weight across all potassium levels tested while Rajnesh et al., (2026) [2] , evaluating seven new wheat varieties under late and very late sowing, observed that JKW-261 and PBW-921 consistently produced the maximum earheads m -2 , spike length, grains spike -1 , grain weight spike -1 and 1000-grain weight, remaining statistically at par with each other but significantly superior to other genotypes such as HD-3495. These findings collectively confirm that varietal differences in yield-contributing traits are governed substantially by Singh et al., (2022) [22] , Singh et al., (2023) [14] , Singh et al., (2024b) [20] , Kumar et al., (2025) [6] Summan et al., (2025) [18] , Sharma et al., (2025a) and Kumar et al., 2026), Verma et al., (2025) [10] and Gupta et al., (2025a) [12] .

Conclusion

The results indicated that application of nitrogen @ 150 kg ha -1 with variety of wheat DBW-303 was the most suitable combination for obtaining better growth, early development and superior yield attributing characters of wheat under irrigated, timely sown conditions of North Western Uttar Pradesh.

References

1. Vimal A, Singh R, Kumar H, Kumar R, Kumar K, Singh V. Performance of Nano urea plus and Prilled urea on growth, yield and economics of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). International Journal of Agricultural Invention. 2026;11(2):111-116.
2. Rajnesh, Singh R, Kumar H, Saraswat KK, Upadhyay Y, Kumar M, Singh V. Performance of new wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties under late sown conditions. International Journal of Agricultural Invention. 2026;11(2):103-110.
3. Archna K, Singh V, Kumar H, Singh R. Optimization of NPK fertilization in conjunction with plant growth regulators (PGRs) affecting productivity and profitability of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The J. of Rural and Agri. Research. 2023;23(2):56-60.
4. USDA. World agricultural production. Foreign Agricultural Service, United States Department of Agriculture; 2025.
5. Annual Report. Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India. 2024-25.
6. Kumar S, Singh R, Singh V, Singh D. Precision nitrogen management in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) for enhanced growth and yield by green seeker tool. International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2025;7(6):39-43.
7. Lokendra PS, Singh V, Gaur V, Kumar H, Singh K, Arman M, Sharma R, Kumar S, Shakya A, Singh A, Sonia, Chhonker DS, Kumar J. Improvement of productivity and profitability in wheat by nitrogen and bio-fertilizer in north western plain zone. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2024;7(1):289292.
8. Singh D, Uma, Singh V, Kumar S. Performances of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties at different levels of nitrogen under late sown condition. International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2025;7(6):34-38.
9. Kumar K, Maurya SP, Singh SB, Singh V. Effect of irrigation regimes on growth and yield of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties. International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2025;7(8):418-422.
10. Verma DK, Shankar S, Singh V. Effect of potassium levels on productivity and profitability of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties. International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2025;7(6):72-75.
11. Singh R, Kumar R, Singh AC, Babu S, Kumar J, Singh K, Singh V. Effect of silicon application and irrigation scheduling on productivity and profitability of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The Journal of Rural and Agri. Res. 2024;24(1):49-53.
12. Gupta A, Singh R, Singh K, Singh AC, Babu S, Kumar R, Singh V. Effect of hydrogel and nutrient management on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity under limited irrigation conditions. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2025;8(9):754-759.
13. Nagar R, Singh R, Kumar H, Kumar R, Kumar S, Singh V. Effect of nano-nitrogen and seaweed extract on yield attributes and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under North Western Plains Zone. International Journal of Agricultural Invention. 2026;11(2):98-102.
14. Singh K, Singh R, Singh RB, Singh V. Effect of nano-nitrogen fertilization on yield attributes and yield of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The Journal of Rural and Agricultural Research. 2023;23(2):87-90.
15. Rathor A, Singh R, Babu S, Kumar H, Kumar K, Chaubey P, Singh V. Enhancing nutrient use efficiency through nano-fertilizer in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2025;7(9):472-476.
16. Gupta A, Singh R, Singh K, Singh AC, Babu S, Kumar R, Singh V, Chaubey P. Influence of hydrogel and nutrient management on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) growth and development under limited irrigation conditions. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2025;8(9):709-714.
17. Kumar H, Singh R, Singh V, Kumar R, Kumar M, Kumar K, Kumar Y, Singh AP, Singh A. Effect of integrated nutrient management on growth and development of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) under irrigated condition. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2026;9(9):27-31.
18. Summan, Singh R, Kumar H, Kumar K, Chaubey P, Chaudhary S, Singh M, Singh V. Response of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties to different dates of sowing under irrigated conditions. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2025;8(9):641644.
19. Sharma R, Singh R, Kumar H, Kumar R, Kumar V, Kumar K, Singh V. Effect of foliar application of sulphur, zinc, and boron on productivity and profitability of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cultivars. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2025;8(12):821-824.
20. Singh R, Singh S, Singh V, Kumar H, Singh K, Kumar J. Impact of nano-nitrogenous fertilization on productivity and profitability of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The Journal of Rural and Agricultural Research. 2024;24(1):110-114.
21. Singh V, Chhonker D, Singh R. Effect of Phosphorus Levels on Growth and Yield of Kabuli Chickpea (Cicer kabulium L.) Varieties. The Journal of Rural and Agricultural Research. 2022;22(2):108-111.
22. Sharma R, Singh R, Kumar H, Kumar R, Kumar K, Chaubey P, Chaudhary S, Singh M, Singh V. Effect of foliar application of sulphur, zinc, and boron on growth and development of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cultivars. International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research. 2026;SP-10(3):330-333.
23. Singh V, Kumar H, Sonia. Influence of Climate Change on Indian Agriculture. Advances in Agriculture Science (Volume-44). 2023. How to cite this article: Chaubey P, Uma, Chaudhary S, Singh M, Singh M, Singh V. Impact of nitrogen levels and varieties on growth, development and yield attributing characters of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under timely sown conditions in western Uttar Pradesh. International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2026;8(10):174-178. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.33545/ 2664844X.2026.v8.i10c.2016 International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science https://www.agriculturaljournals.com 26648458, 2026, 8(10), Downloaded from https://www.doi.org/10.33545/2664844X.2026.v8.i10c.2016 by International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science on [07/10/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://www.agriculturaljournals.com) for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License