The impact of N and P supply on the performance of yield components of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Abstract

Winter barley is one of the most important fodder plants due to its nutritional value, but the sown area size is rather small among the cereal crops. Barley production has a profound impact on the success of animal husbandry in Hungary. Relevant foreign and Hungarian publications on fertilisation and investigating contexts between yield components of winter barley can only be found in few recent periodicals. The aim of this investigation was to gain data about the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus supplies on the plant height, length of ear and grain yield per ear as well as the yield of winter barley. The long-term fertilisation experiment was set up in 1989 on a chernozem meadow soil, calcareous in the deeper layers, with four levels of N, P and K supplies respectively. The present paper discusses the N and P fertilisation results obtained in the 2011 year of the experiment. We measured the highest values - height (78.88 cm), length of ear (7.25 cm) and grain yield per ear (18.9 pieces per ear) - in the case of AL-P₂O₅ level of 194 mg kg^-1and N 240 kg N ha ^-1supplies. Maximum grain yields were recorded at AL-P₂O₅ level of 194 mg kg ^-1 as well, but in the case of N, the 160 kg N ha ^-1 supply was proved to be adequate.