Agronomic Performance of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Influenced by Seed Rates and Weeding Frequency at Mutulu Kebele in Toke Kutaye District

Abstract

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major cereal crops in central high land of Ethiopia. However, its production and productivity is constrained by weed infestation and inappropriate seed rate used. Hence, an experiment was conducted to determine the optimal seed rate and weeding frequency for bread wheat production in Toke Kutaye district of West Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State during 2020 main cropping season. Treatments consisted of five levels of seed rates (75, 100, 125, 150, and 175 kgha-1) and four levels of weeding frequency (zero weeding, once weeding (15 DAE), twice weeding (15 and 45 DAE) and thrice weeding (15, 45 and 75 DAE). Experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with factorial    combination replicated thrice. Results of the study revealed that the interaction of seed  rate and weeding frequency significantly (P≤0.05) influenced phenological and growth parameters except days reqired for 50% emergence and yield of bread wheat. Highest  relative yield loss (71.3%) was recorded from weedy plot with 75 kgha-1 seed rate, while the lowest loss (1.2%) was recorded at 175 kgha-1seed rate with thrice hand weeding. Highest net benefit of ETB 73,170 ha-1 , marginal rate of return 884.4% and value to cost ratio of ETB  8.34 per unit of investment was obtained from 175 kgha-1 seed rate combined with thrice  hand weeding. Therefore, use of 175 kgha-1 seed rate with thrice hand weeding was found profitable, and recommended to be practiced by wheat growers of the study area and similar agro-ecologies.