RESPONSE OF SOME WHEAT CULTIVARS TO SOWING METHODS AND SEEDING RATES UNDER SIWA OASIS CONDITIONS

Egypt produces about half of the 20 million tons of consumed wheat and imports the other half. So that Egypt became the world’s largest importer of wheat. Therefore, intensive efforts are being for enhancing wheat production to meet any local consumption particularly out of the Nile Valley, i.e. Siwa Oasis, Egypt, where salinity is considered of the major problem. However, Siwan farmers are not acquainted with wheat crop from the beginning sustain policy of wheat flour as well as with agricultural practices. Therefore, two on farm trials were carried out in Agricultural Experimental Station of Desert Research Center at Khemisa, Siwa Oasis during 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 growing seasons, to study the effect of sowing methods (broadcast and row) and seeding rates (30, 45, 60 and 75 kg/fed.) on two wheat cultivars, Triticum aesivum L., (Misr 2 and Sakha 94). Results indicated that row sowing method produced 37.2% and 12.5% more grain yield over traditional broadcast method in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively. These increments may be due to a significant increase in number of spikes/m2, number of grains/spike and to some extent 1000-grain weight.Misr 2 wheat cultivar produced the highest biological, grain yields, harvest index and number of spikes/m2. On the other hand, Sakha 94 cultivar gave the highest value of number of grains/spike and 1000-grain weight in both seasons. The highest values of grain yield and harvest index were noticed with 45 and/or 60 kg/fed seeding rates in two seasons. Whereas, a gradual significant increase in number of spikes/m2 and biological yield was noticed with increasing seeding rates from 30 up to 75 kg/fed. However, 1000-grain weight tended to reduce with increasing seeding rates. So, it could be concluded that sowing Misr 2 wheat cultivar at 60 kg/fed., with row sowing method is suitable for wheat production under saline conditions at Siwa Oasis.