COMPARISON OF ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT OF FOUR LOCAL SPRING WHEAT VARIETIES IN KABUL CLIMATIC CONDITIONS

A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive spring seasons of 2017 and 2018 at experimental farm of the Kabul University, to study effects of varieties on growth, yield components and yield of wheat under Agro-climate conditions of Kabul. The experimental was laid out in randomized complete block design with four treatment and three replications. Four local spring varieties i.e., V1-Zardana Baghlan,V2Sorkha-Andarab, V3-Safida-Kunduz and V4Safida-Andarab. Among the varieties Safida-Andarab (V4), produced shorter plant height but significantly higher number of tillers (416.67 and 425.33 m2), spikes (397.33 and 419.6), number of grains per spike (50.67 and 53.33), grains per spike length (3.00 and 3.00), test weight (40.33 and 41.33 g) and grain yield of (4.17 and 4.43 t/ha) of wheat, being at par with variety of Safida-Kunduz during both the consecutive years, respectively.


INTRODUCTION
Afghanistan is a semi-arid country where where drought occurs frequently due to fluctuation in a rain-fed region. Wheat cultivation in Afghanistan depends either directly on precipitation or on irrigation (FAO/WFP, 2003). A large part of the wheat crop is grown in the Northern provinces with the majority of the crop being dependent on seasonal precipitation. The total wheat production in Afghanistan is 5.00 t/ha which is achieved from an area of 2.30 million hectare with the annual productivity of 2.17 ton/ha (USDA and MAIL-Afghanistan, 2019).
Adaptation to drought stress is considered an important progress in the selection of wheat genotypes. However drought stress is found to be major constraint for crop production globally. It affect the growth and productivity of wheat by including many biochemical and molecular response of the crop under variable environmental condition Allahverdiyev et al. (2015). The ability of a cultivar to produce high and satisfactory yield over a wide range of stress and nonstress environments is very important. Finlay (1968) believed that stability over environments and yield potential are more or less independent from each other. The most widely used criteria for selecting high yield performance are mean yield, mean productivity (average yield performance under stress and non stress conditions) and relative yield performance in droughtstressed and more favorable environments Rashid et al. (2003). Bari (1990) found that the among eleven tested wheat genotypes, the wheat variety of Kanchann produced significantly higher grain yield. Chatterjee et al. (1980) carried out an experiment with three wheat cultivars (Janak, UP262 and Sonalika) and observed that significantly higher grain yield of wheat was obtained with Janak and lowest with Sonalika. Keeping all the above fact selection of resistant varieties with high adoptability to specific environmental condition is necessary to for higher grain yield.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the comparative performance of four local spring wheat varieties under Kabul climatic condition.

METHODOLOGY
A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive spring seasons of 2017 and 2018 at experimental farm of the Kabul University. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design consisting of three replications and four treatments. The underground water level of site of the experiment was expected to be 10 to 11 m below the soil surface. The fertilizers were applied through Urea 200kg/ha and DAP 175 kg/ha as basal. The crop was sown with the seed rate of 120kg/ha on March 10 under rainfed condition, only one supplemental irrigation was given on May 28 was during both the years. All the growth and yield parameters were measured as per standards at different observations taken during both the experimental years. The crop was harvested with the help of sickles, bundled separately, tagged properly and sundried. Later the crop was threshed, and grains were cleaned and weighted as per plot, separately during both the experimental years.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The plant height of wheat was significantly influenced by different varieties during both the years. The significantly taller plant height of 88.4 and 86.8 cm were recorded with V1. Sorkha-Andarab during both the consecutive years, respectively, while during both the years the lowest plant height of wheat was observed with Safida-Andarab (table 1)  The significantly higher grain yield of 4.17 and 4.43 t/ha of wheat was produced by Safida-Andarab followed by Safida-Kuduz during both the consecutive years, respectively. The significantly higher grain yield of wheat with mentioned treatments are due to higher yield attributing character of wheat which theses characters contributed to the final yield of wheat. Similar result was also observed by Kabir (2009)

CONCLUSION
Among the varieties Safida-Andarab (V4), produced produced shorter plant height but significantly higher number of tillers (416.67 and 425.33 m2), spikes (397.33 and 419.6), number of grains per spike (50.67 and 53.33), grains per spike length (3.00 and 3.00), test weight (40.33 and 41.33 g) and grain yield of (4.17 and 4.43 t/ha) of wheat, being at par with variety of Safida-Kunduz during both the consecutive years, respectively.