Evaluation of wheat under normal and late sowing conditions

The effect of planting time (october-20,october-30,november-10,november-20,november-30,december-10,december-20 and december-30) on wheat (var. zam-04,gomal-8,hashim-8,candidate lines dn-62 and dn-76) was assessed on number of tillers m-2,number of days to heading,spike length (cm),number of grains spike-1,1000-grain weight (g),plant height at maturity (cm) and grain yield (kg ha-1). the results revealed that wheat planted on october-20 and october-30 produced higher spike length,1000-grain weight,plant height and grain yield with a comparable number of tillers and number of grains per spike. there was 7.2% reduction in grain yield on october-30 as compared to optimum planting time october-20. this reduction was subsequently increased up to 38.9% on december-30 sowing. the interaction between varieties and sowing dates was highly significant on wheat grain yield and its attributes. however,there was no statistical difference among wheat varieties for grain yield. it is recommended to plant wheat between october-20 to october-30 to attain higher grain yield.