Effects of Irrigation and Rain fed practices on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Normalized Difference Vegetative Index and its implications on Grain Yield in North China

Abstract

Abstract The five winter wheat genotypes were evaluated based on Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) under irrigation and rain fed conditions. The 30 treatments were appropriately conducted according to the experimental design during the two consecutive cropping seasons, from 2017 to 2019. The NDVI was used to evaluate the differences of wheat genotypes from irrigation and rain fed effects. The results indicated that NDVI varied at all vegetative stages and there were some significant differences ( p < 0.05) on NDVI indices among genotypes throughout the growth period and were critical at the booting and grain filling stages from the end of March to mid-May but indices values started to decrease immediately after physiological maturity. In the entire study, the maximum NDVI (0.82) from Zhongmai-36 genotype corresponded to grain yield (8.05 Mgha− 1) and was obtained in one supplementary irrigation treatment. The maximum NDVI in rain fed treatment was (0.78) from Zhongmai-36 and corresponded to the grain yield of (7.28 Mgha− 1). This study suggests that, wheat genotype (Zhongmai-36) among the other four, can be prioritized to grow under limited irrigation applications without compromising grain yield (GY). Moreover, since the NDVI, leaf area index (LAI) and GY related positively during the entire growth period, hence can be used for the real time wheat growth monitoring, in season water requirements and grain yield simulation. This information can be used by agricultural stakeholders and decision makers on food security for early warning.