Agronomic performance of wheat cultivars in different sowing dates under high temperature conditions in Brazil

Abstract

Wheat is considered a basic cereal for civilization with great economic importance for world agriculture. Currently, wheat is planted in the south, southeast and midwest regions of Brazil. Brazilian consumption of wheat will grow in the coming years due to population increase, which will require developing new cultivars for non-tradtional regions. We investigated commercial wheat genotypes grown at various sowing dates in a region with high temperature conditions. The experiment was conducted during the two summer and two autumn seasons. Sowings were March 10, March 20, April 1 and April 10. The agronomic traits (grain yield, plant height, spike size, total spikelets per spike and fertile spikelets per spike) for four commercial genotypes were evaluated. The experimental design was randomized blocks in a factorial scheme, corresponding to four genotypes, four sowing seasons and two years of cultivation. The second sowing year gave the best performance for the genotypes. Genotypes BR 18 and BRS 404 gave superior agronomic performance, standing out in the third and fourth sowing dates, under these culture conditions.