Interactive Effects of Plant Geometry and NPK Management on Growth, Yield, and Productivity of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

Plant geometry and (NPK) management significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced all wheat growth parameters. Cross sowing consistently produced the tallest plants, recording 24.31, 66.74, 95.68, and 98.74 cm at 30 DAS, 60 DAS, 90 DAS, and harvest, respectively, while border sowing resulted in the greatest dry matter accumulation (20.12 g plant⁻¹ at harvest). Cross sowing also produced the highest number of tillers (62.81 tillers m⁻¹ row length at 60 DAS) and leaves (23.36 leaves plant⁻¹ at 60 DAS), outperforming traditional sowing by 36.2% and 10.8%, respectively. Increasing NP application significantly enhanced all growth attributes, with the NPK 120:90:60 kg ha⁻¹ treatment producing the maximum plant height (107.68 cm), tillers (74.26 m⁻¹ row length), leaves (26.42 plant⁻¹), and dry matter accumulation (20.98 g plant⁻¹) at their respective peak growth stages. Compared with the control, the highest NPK level increased plant height by 23.0%, tiller number by 110.5%, leaf number by 51.3%, and dry matter accumulation by 32.4% at harvest or peak vegetative growth. Overall, the findings demonstrate that optimizing plant geometry through cross sowing, together with balanced NPK fertilization, substantially improves vegetative growth, biomass accumulation, and crop establishment, while border sowing combined with NPK 120:90:60 ha⁻¹ maximized dry matter production, indicating its potential for enhancing wheat productivity under field conditions.