Response of Emmer and Durum Wheats to Different Levels of Nitrogen Fertilizer

Emmer tetraploid hulled wheats are considered as the ancestor of modern wheat and have considerable potential for durum wheat improvement, especially in terms of grain protein content. To investigate the response of emmer and durum wheats to different levels of nitrogen fertilizer, eight durum and four emmer genotypes were evaluated in the field during 2017 cropping season. The experiment was conducted as split plot using randomized complete block design with three replications. In this setting the main factor was four levels of urea fertilizer (0, 50, 150 and 200 kg ha -1 ) and the 12 wheat genotypes were considered as the sub-factors. The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of nitrogen fertilizer levels on days to physiological maturity, grain protein percentage, nitrogen percentage and nitrogen concentration in grains was significant (p<0.01). The effect of genotype was also significant (p<0.01) for all the measured traits. Emmer genotypes had higher means for spike number per square meter, grain protein, nitrogen concentration in grain and protein percentage compared to durum wheat genotypes. Based on these findings, emmer wheat can be considered as a rich gene resource for improvement of durum wheat, especially the grain protein.