ABSTRACT
Sustainable wheat production system under the influence of different fertilizers and climatic conditions

Vera Rajicic1, Dragan Terzic1, Biljana Sevic2, Milan Ugrinovic2, Ivan Tupajic2, Kristina Lukovic2, and Jelena Stojiljkovic2*
 
The yield and quality of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains are largely influenced by genotype, fertilization and climatic conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different fertilization treatments on grain yield, hectoliter weight and 1000-grain weight in four wheat genotypes during two growing seasons. Fertilization treatments included a control treatment without fertilizer application (F0), a combination of mineral (F1), mineral and microbiological (F2), microbiological (F3), as well as mineral, microbiological, organic fertilizers and lime (F4). The experiment was set up in a randomized block design with three replicates. Treatment F4 achieved the highest grain yields for the ‘Ikona’ genotype (6.45 and 7.37 t ha-1), showing significant differences (P < 0.01) compared to the control. The ANOVA confirmed significant effects of year, genotype and fertilization on all investigated traits. Significant interactions between year and treatment were observed for grain yield (P < 0.01), while 1000-grain weight was affected by interactions between year, genotype and treatment (P < 0.01). Higher yields in the second season were attributed to more favorable rainfall distribution, although excessive pre-harvest rainfall reduced grain quality. The highest average values of hectolitre weight (76.60 and 74.20 kg hL-1) and 1000-grain weight (45.07 and 41.33 g) were measured for the ‘Ikona’ genotype in F4. Positive correlations were found between grain yield, hectolitre weight and 1000-grain weight. The research results emphasize the importance of genotype selection and fertilization combination for achieving sustainable wheat production and stable grain quality in different agroecological conditions.
Keywords: Climatic conditions, fertilization, hectolitre weight, 1000-grain weight, Triticum aestivum, yield grain.
1University of Nis, Faculty of Agriculture, 37000 Krusevac, Serbia.
2Institute for Vegetable Crops, 11420 Smederevska Palanka, Serbia.
*Corresponding author (jstojiljkovic@institut-palanka.rs).