Influence of late-season nitrogen application on chlorophyll content and leaf area index in wheat

The research was conducted in Isparta ecological conditions during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 crop growing seasons. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of late-season N application (LSN) on chlorophyll content and leaf area index (LAI) of wheat. The experiment was laid out in as Randomized Complete Block split-plot design with three replications. Gun-91, Gerek-79 and Altay-2000 wintery bread wheat cultivars were used. Nitrogen was applied as conventional N (two equal amounts at seed sowing and tillering stage) and late-season N supplies (one-third of was applied during sowing, one-third at the tillering stage and the rest was applied as foliar at post-pollination stage). Chlorophyll content and LAI were significantly affected by N applications in both years. Chlorophyll content an LAI of wheat cultivars varied, depending on cultivars, N application forms and growing period. The highest chlorophyll content was obtained from Gerek-79 x conventional N application during the ear-emergence period (51.8), and in the second year it was determined in Altay-2000 x LSN application (51.1). In the first year, the highest LAI was obtained from Gun-91 x conventional N application during flowering period (9.46), and in second year it was determined in Altay-2000 x conventional N application (9.71).