Abstract

Wheat serves as a staple food and feed for all over the world. In Ethiopia, wheat is one of the most important cultivated cereals ranking 4^th in area coverage, 3^nd in total production and 2^nd in yield. A wheat seed rate of 125 kg ha^-1 is usually used across most wheat growing areas of Ethiopia in any production conditions. In order to optimize seed rate and plant density of wheat, an experiment was conducted at the agronomy experiment field, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Ethiopia, with variable seed rates of 100, 125, 150 and 175 kg ha^-1. For this purpose, an experiment was laid down using a randomized complete block design with three replication and four treatments. The result of the current experiment showed significant difference for number of tillers, plant height, grain yield, and 1000-grain weight whereas non-significant difference were witnessed for spike length. Result of this particular study indicated higher number of effective tillers (10.27), spike length (8.9 cm), 1000-grain weight (41.7 g) and grain yield (25.78 qtha^-1) production with 125 kg ha^-1 seed rate. On the basis of results obtained from this experiment, it is concluded that wheat should be sown with 125 kg ha^-1 seed rate in the current study area provided that all other agronomic management practices is kept optimal.

Key words: Grain crop, planting density, seed rate, Tritium aestivum L. and yield.