Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of different nitrogen levels on interspecific competition between wild mustard and spring wheat. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design under a split plot arrangement, with three replications. The experiment comprised of three nitrogen levels (90, 150 and 210 kg ha^-1) assigned to main plots and four wild mustard densities such as 0, 5, 10 and 15 plants m^-2 kept in sub-plots. The results revealed that yield, yield components and nitrogen use efficiency of wheat were decreased with increasing wild mustard density. The density of 5, 10 and 15 wild mustard plants m^-2 reduced the grain yield of wheat by 21.4, 32.2 and 40.2% respectively as compared to control. Increasing nitrogen level increased the grain yield of wheat in weed free plots, while in the presence of wild mustard, increasing nitrogen level led to increase the competitive ability of wild mustard and increased the yield losses of wheat. The density of 15 wild mustard plants m^-2 had decreased the grain yield of wheat by 31.6, 34.4 and 53.3 % under 90, 150 and 210 kg N ha^-1 respectively.

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