INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ISSN: 2309-7892, Volume: 2, Issue: 1, Page: 74-78, July-September, 2014

Invited Paper
GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT AS INFLUENCED BY GA3
CONCENTRATIONS

S. Islam1 , Sudip Chakrabortty1, M.J. Uddin2 , H. Mehraj2 and AFM Jamal Uddin2 *

S. Islam, Sudip Chakrabortty, M.J. Uddin, H. Mehraj and AFM Jamal Uddin (2014). Growth and Yield of
Wheat as Influenced by GA3 Concentrations. Int. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Res. 2(1): 74-78. Retrieve from
http://www.ijbssr.com/currentissueview/14013051

Received Date: 30/07/2014 Acceptance Date: 25/08/2014 Published Date: 25/08/2014

Abstract
An experiment was conducted at experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Bangladesh to find out the growth and yield performance of wheat to gibberellic acid concentrations.
Experiment consisted foliar application of three concentrations of GA 3 viz. G 0: No GA 3 i.e., control
condition ; G 1: 100 ppm GA 3 and G 2: 200 ppm GA 3. Maximum plant height (89.9 cm), number of
tiller/plant (5.0), CGR (5.8), RGR (0.04), dry matter content/plant (26.8 g), number of spikes/plant
(4.1), number of spikelets/spike (19.0), ear length (17.0 cm), filled grains/spike (30.4), total
grains/spike (32.6), weight of 1000-grains (45.5 g), grain yield (3.9 tha-1), straw yield (4.6 tha-1),
biological yield (8.5 tha-1) and harvest index (46.1%) were found from G 2 whereas minimum fro m
G 0.

Key words: Wheat, GA3, growth and yield.

Introduction
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the important grain crops in Bangladesh. Plant Growth
Regulators (PGRs) can regulate plant growth and development in numerous ways. PGRs have potential
to modify cereal yield and plant stand structure additional to stem elongation. Reduction in plant biomass
due to higher PGRs may also have negative consequences for grain yield through reduced photosynthetic
area and lower levels of stored reserves for re-translocation at grain filling time of wheat (Espindula et
al., 2009). It plays an important role in flowering, grain filling and ripening and also physiochemical
changes during storage. Due to diversi fied use of productive land it is necessary to increase the food
production and gibberellic acid (GA3 ) may be a contributor in achieving the desired goal. PGRs
significantly increased all physiological and yield characters (Meera and Poonam, 2010). PGRs have
potential to increase grain yield and may also alter grain prot ein levels of cereal crops especially wheat
(Ma et al., 1994). Hence, current study was undert aken with a view to find out the growth and yield
perform ance of wheat to gibberellic acid concentrations.
Materials and Methods
The experiment was conduct ed at experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Bangladesh during the period from November 2011 to March 2012 to find out the respons e of di fferent
levels GA3 . Experiment consisted foliar application of three concentrations of GA3 viz. G0 : No GA3 i.e.,
control condition; G1: 100 ppm GA3 and G2 : 200 ppm GA3 following Randomized Complete Block
Design with three replications. BARI Gom-21 (Shatabdi) was us ed in the experiment. Seeds were sown
continuous with maintaining 20 cm line to line distance and plant to plant 5 cm. Cowdung, Urea, TSP,
MP, Gypsum were applied @ 10 tha-1 , 200 kgha-1 , 180 kgha-1 , 50 kgha-1 and 120 kgha-1 respectively as
basal dose (BARI, 2006). Data were colleted on plant height, number of tiller/hill, dry matter
content/plant, crop growth rat e, relative growth rate, days to flowering, days to maturity, number o f
spike/hill, ear length, number of filled grains/spike, number of unfilled grain/spike, number of total
grain/spike, weight of 1000-grains, grain yield/ha, straw yield/ha, biological yield and harvest index.
Using data on dry matter the following growth parameters were derived (Hunt, 1978).
Crop growth rate (CGR) was calculated using the following formula:

Where; GA = Ground area (m2 ), W 1 = Total dry weight at previous

sampling date (T 1 ), W2 = Total dry weight at current s ampling date
(T 2 ), T1 = Date of previous sampling, T2 = Date of current sampling

*Corresponding Authors Email: jamal4@yahoo.com

1
Department of Agronomy , She-e-Bangla Agricultural University , Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
2
Department of Horticulture, She-e-Bangla Agricultural University , Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
Growth and Yield Potential of Wheat 75

Relative growth rate (RGR) was calculated using the following formula:

Where; W 1 = Total dry weight at previous sampling date (time T1 ); W2 = Total dry weight at current
sampling date (time T 2 ); T1 = Date of previous sampling; T 2 = Date of current s ampling; Ln = Natural
logarithm

Biological yield was calculated with the following formula:

Biological yield = Grain yield + Straw yield
Harvest index was calcul ated using the following formula:

Collected data were analyzed statistically using MSTAT-C computer package program. The mean values
of all the charact ers were calculat ed and analysis of variance was performed. The significance of the
difference among the treatment means was estimated by the Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5%
level of probability (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).
Result and Discussion
Plant height: Different levels of gibberellic acid showed signi ficant variation in plant height of wheat at
different DAS (days after sowing) and harvest. Tallest plant was found from G2 (89.9 cm) which was
statistically similar to G1 (87.8 cm) while shortest plant from G0 (79.3 cm) at harvest (Fig. 1).
Application of GA3 increas es plant height in Abelmoschus esculentus L. (Chaudhry and Zahur, 1992) and
Cicer arietnum (Chaudhry and Khan, 2000). Plant growth regulator significantly increased all
physiological parameters in comparison to that of control (Meera and Poonam, 2010). Probably, GA3
stimulated rapid cell division and elongation in plant stems and shoots (Turner, 1963). Increases in
number of internodes were also observed in a number of crops (Hernadez, 1997; Bagathari a & Chanda,
1998). Gibberellins (e.g., GA3) primarily enhance cell division in the sub-apical region of the ros ette
axis, leading to stem elongation which, in turn, promotes the formation of flower buds (Salisbury, 1983;
Farooqi et al., 1999).
Number of tillers/hill: GA3 concentrations showed significant vari ation in number of tillers/hill of wheat
at different DAS. Maximum number of tillers/hill was found from G2 (5.0) which was statistically similar
with G1 (4.8) while minimum from G0 (4.3) (Fig. 2). Tillering determined the spike number/plant is an
important agronomic trait for grain and is dynamic and adjustable. Plant hormones play important role in
regulating the tiller occurrence (Liu et al., 2012).
Crop Growth Rate (CGR): Maximum CGR was found from G2 (6.5, 7.3 and 5.8 gm-2 day-1 ) which was
statistically similar with G1 (6.2, 7.3 and 5.6 gm-2 day-1 ) and minimum from G0 (5.5, 6.5 and 4.9 gm-2 day-
1
) at 50-60, 60-70 and 70-80 DAS respectively (Fig. 3). Differential growth rates were achieved due to
differential production of pl ant growth regulator (Rauf and Sadaqat, 2007). Therefore, GA3 application
may have induced higher production of cytokinins than control. Growth rate of wheat has significant
relation with GA3 application becaus e most plants were healthy and vigorous which m ay help the plants
to absorb water and light more efficiently that may have resulted higher CGR.
Relative Growth Rate (RGR): Maximum RGR was found from G2 (0.06, 0.05 and 0.04 gg-1 day-1 ) while
minimum from G0 (0.05, 0.04 and 0.02 gg-1 day-1 ) at 50-60, 60-70 and 70-80 DAS (Fig. 4). The increase
in RGR by GA3 application was associated with an increased leaf weight ratio; speci fic leaf area and
percentage of dry matter in the leaves were only temporarily affected while chlorophyll-a content and
photosynthetic activity per unit leaf area were decreased, while transpiration rate was unaffected by GA3
application (Dijkstra et al., 1990).

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Islam et al. 76

100.0 5.5

N umber of tille r/hill.

G0 G0
Plant height (cm). G1 G1
80.0 4.5
G2 G2
60.0 3.5

40.0 2.5

20.0 1.5
50 60 70 80 harvest 50 60 70 80
Days after sowing (DAS) Days after sowing (DAS)
Fig. 1. Effect of GA3 concentrations on plant height Fig. 2. Effect of GA3 concentrations on number
of wheat of tillers/hill of wheat
Creop growth rate (gm-2/day).

8.5

Relative growth rate (gg-1/day)..

0.08
G0
7.5 G1 0.06
G2
6.5 0.04 G0
G1
5.5 0.02 G2

4.5 0.00
50-60 60-70 70- 80 50-60 60- 70 70- 80
Days after sowing (DAS) Days after sowing (DAS)
Fig. 3. Effect of GA3 concent rations on crop growth Fig. 4. Effect of GA3 concentrations on relative
rate of wheat growth rate of wheat

Dry matter content/plant: Maximum dry matter content/plant was found from G2 (26.8 g) which was
statistically similar with G1 (26.2 g) while minimum from G0 (25.0 g) (Table 1). Application of 10-5 M of
GA3 on mustard at 40 or 60 days after sowing significantly increased total dry matter (Khan et al., 2002).
Days to flowering: Late flowering was found from G0 (74.1) while early flowering from G3 (70.4) which
was statistically similar with G1 (70.9) (Table 1). Applied exogenous GA3 showed early flowering. Early
flowering was accompani ed by more number of flower buds. GA3 had stimulatory effect on floral stem
length and number of flowers in rice (Awan et al., 1999) and Lilium (Lee et al., 1999).
Days to maturity: Late maturity was found from G0 (114.8) whereas early maturity from G3 (107.5)
which was statistically similar with G1 (108.6) (Table 1).
Number of spikes/hill: Maximum number of spikes/hill was found from G2 (4.1) which was statistically
similar with G1 (3.9) while minimum from G0 (3.6) (Table 1).
Table 1. Effect of gibberellic acid concentrations on dry matter content, days to flowering, days to
maturity and number of spikes/hillX
Gibberellic acid Dry matter Number of
Days to flowering Days to maturity
concentrations content/plant (g) spikes/hill
G0 25.0 b 74.1 a 114.8 b 3.6 b
G1 26.2 a 70.9 b 108.6 a 3.9 a
G2 26.8 a 70.4 b 107.5 a 4.1 a
LSD(0.05) 0.8 0.6 1.5 0.3
CV (%) 5.4 1.2 3.9 7.5
X
In a column, means having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar letter(s)
differ signifi cantly at 0.05 level of probability
Number of spikelets/spike: M aximum number of spikelets/spike was found from G2 (19.0) which was
statistically similar with G1 (18.0) while minimum from G0 (15.8) (Table 2).
Ear length: Longest ear was found from G2 (17.0 cm) which was statistically similar with G1 (16.56 cm)
while minimum from G0 (14.3 cm) (Table 2).

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Growth and Yield Potential of Wheat 77

Filled grains/spike: Maximum number of filled grains/spike was found from G2 (30.4) which was
statistically similar with G1 (29.1) while minimum from G0 (26.1) (Table 2).
Unfilled grains/spike: Minimum number of unfilled grains/spike was found from G2 (2.2) which was
statistically similar with G1 while maximum from G0 (2.5) (Table 2).
Total grains/spike: Maximum total grains/spike was found from G2 (32.6) which was statistically
similar with G1 (31.1) while minimum from G0 (28.6) (Table 2). These results correspond to the findings
of Naghashzadeh (2007), Wang et al. (1996), Rezaie (2007) and Nas erpur (2007).
Table 2. Effect of gibberellic acid concentrations on number of spikelets, ear length, filled grains,
unfilled grains and total grains/spikeX
Gibberellic acid Number of Ear length Filled Unfilled Total
concentrations spikelets/spike (cm) grains/spike grains/spike grains/spike
G0 15.8 b 14.3 b 26.1 b 2.5 a 28.6 b
G1 18.0 a 16.5 a 29.1 a 2.2 b 31.3 a
G2 19.0 a 17.0 a 30.4 a 2.2 b 32.6 a
LSD(0.05) 1.2 1.1 1.6 0.2 1.6
CV (%) 7.6 7.9 6.4 7.6 5.9
X
In a column, means having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar letter(s) differ
significantly at 0.05 level of probability
Weight of 1000-grains: Maximum weight of 1000-grains was found from G2 (45.5 g) which was
statistically similar with G1 (44.8 g) while minimum from G0 (40.0 g) (Table 3).
Grain yield: Maximum grain yield was found from G2 (3.9 tha -1 ) followed by G1 (3.7 tha-1 ) while
minimum from G0 (3.1 tha-1 ) (Table 3). PGRs have been implicated in effici ent utilization of nutrients
and translocation of photo-assimilates in established sink-source system (Khan et al., 1996; Patrick and
Steains, 1987). Improvement in growth and yield under GA3 application compared to the control was
observed. This might be ascribed to more effici ent utilization of food for reproductive growth (flowering
and fruit set), higher photosynthetic effi ciency and enhanced source to sink relationship of the plant,
reduced respiration, enhanced translocation and accumulation of sugars and other metabolites. Inhibition
of growth performance on exposure to the other PGRs occurred.
Straw yield: Maximum straw yield was found from G2 (4.6 tha-1 ) which was statistically similar with G1
(4.5 tha-1 ) while minimum from G0 (4.2 tha-1 ) (Table 3).
Biological yield: Maximum biological yield was found from G2 (8.5 tha-1 ) which was statistically similar
with G1 (8.2 tha-1 ) whereas minimum from G0 (7.3 tha-1 ) (Table 3). Plant growth regulator signifi cantly
increas ed yield characters (Meera and Poonam, 2010).
Harvest index: Maximum harvest index was found from G2 (46.1%) which was statistically similar with
G1 (45.2%) while minimum from G0 (42.7%) (Table 3). The higher harvest index indicated that GA3
applications accelerated assimilate supply to sink (Gouping and Etmal, 1992). GA3 at 0-75 mg/L applied
at 600 liters/ha at the pre flowering stage on Indi an mustard (Brassica juncea) increased the harvest
index (Khan, 1997).
Table 3. Effect of GA3 concentrations on weight of 1000-grains, grain yield, straw yield, biological yield
and harvest indexX
Gibberellic acid Weight of Grain yield Straw yield Biological yield Harvest
concentrations 1000-grain (g) (tha-1 ) (tha-1 ) (tha-1 ) index (%)
G0 40.0 b 3.1 c 4.2 b 7.3 b 42.7 b
G1 44.8 a 3.7 b 4.5 a 8.2 a 45.2 a
G2 45.5 a 3.9 a 4.6 a 8.5 a 46.1 a
LSD(0.05) 1.7 0.2 0.3 0.6 1.5
CV (%) 4.6 6.2 6.7 4.8 3.8
X
In a column, means having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar letter(s ) di ffer
significantly at 0.05 level of probability
Conclusion
Finally it can be concluded that application of GA3 increases the growth and yield of wheat. By the by
application of 200-ppm GA3 was found as the best for all of the param eters related to growth and yield
but it was statistically similar with 100-ppm GA3 .

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Islam et al. 78

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