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Nitrification Inhibitor and Plant Growth Regulators Improve Wheat Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency

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Abstract

The field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of applying urea with nitrification inhibitor (NI) (Nitrapyrine) alone or in combination with gibberellic acid (GA-K salt), on improving wheat yield and N-use efficiency at The University of Agriculture (34.1°ʹ21″ N, 71°28′5′E), Peshawar-Pakistan. There were five treatments with four replications: control (no urea), urea (150 kg N ha−1), urea + nitrapyrin (525 g ha−1), urea + GA-K salt (60 g ha−1), and urea + nitrapyrin + GA-K salt, respectively. Wheat plant biomass, grain yield and total N uptake were enhanced by 31, 37 and 44%, respectively, when urea was applied together with nitrapyrin and GA-K salt over control. In addition, 1000 grains weight, grain spike−1, and spike length were also significantly increased when urea was applied with both nitrapyrin + GA-K salt. In conclusion, use of urea with 525 g ha−1 nitrapyrin or 60 g ha−1 GA-K salt has the potential to enhance N-use efficiency and yield components of wheat yield.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Coordinated Research Project [Minimizing Farming Impacts on Climate Change by Enhancing Carbon and Nitrogen Capture and Storage in Agro-Ecosystems (18595/R1)] of Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna.

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KD and SF involved in writing—original draft preparation. UR performed conceptualization, data curation, investigation, and methodology. SSA, MT; AK, MNA; RD, SD; and KD contributed to provision of resources; SS, SAK, SF, and MN participated in review & editing. SS did validation. MN performed visualization.

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Correspondence to Khadim Dawar or Shah Fahad.

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We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

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Dawar, K., Rahman, U., Alam, S.S. et al. Nitrification Inhibitor and Plant Growth Regulators Improve Wheat Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency. J Plant Growth Regul 41, 216–226 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10295-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10295-x

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