Dhindwal, A.S.Patil, Mahesh2017-06-032017-06-032013http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810014472The field experiment entitled, “Moisture stress management in wheat” was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, during rabi seasons of 2010-11 and 2011-12. The treatment consisted of four moisture regimes in main plots viz., irrigation at crown root initiation (CRI) + 100 mm cumulative pan evapotranspiration (CPE), CRI + 150 mm CPE, CRI + 200 mm CPE and CRI only, and six moisture stress management practices in sub plot viz., No moisture stress management, seed hardening (SH) by CaCl2, SH + KCl spray at 90 days after sowing (DAS), SH + mycorrhizae application at sowing + KCl spray, SH + mycorrhizae + KCl spray + kaolin spray at 115 DAS and pusa hydrogel application at sowing. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications in sandy loam soil. The morpho-physiological parameters namely, plant height, numbers of tillers, leaf area index, leaf area duration, dry matter accumulation, crop growth rate, seed vigour index, relative water content, leaf water potential, chlorophyll content and canopy temperature depression during both the season were found to be highest with irrigation at CRI + 100 mm CPE closely followed by CRI + 150 mm CPE, CRI + 200 CPE and lowest with irrigation at CRI only. Similar trend was recorded in terms of grain, straw and biological yields, harvest index, number of spikes per m2, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike and test weight, and gross income, net return and B: C ratio. Moisture stress management practices of SH + mycorrhizae + KCl spray + kaolin spray had favorable impact on morphological parameters viz., plant height, numbers of tillers, leaf area index, leaf area duration, dry matter accumulation, crop growth rate, physiological parameters viz., relative water content, leaf water potential, chlorophyll content, canopy temperature depression and yield parameters viz., number of spikes per m2, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike and test weight. This practice of moisture stress management produced higher grain and straw yield as well as net returns. Reduction in cumulative yield as simulated by CROPWAT model was highest in S4 moisture regime.enMoisture regime, Seed hardening, Antitranspirant, Pusa hydrogel, Mycorrhizae, KCl, Moisture stress management.Thesis