Response of Wheat Productivity to Different Rates of Compost and Ni-trogen Fertilizer Under New Valley Conditions

Two field experiments were conducted at El-Dakhla Oasis, New Valley Governorate, Egypt, during the two winter growing seasons of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 to investigate the effect of three date palm compost rates (0, 5 and 10 m³ fed.^-1) and three nitrogen fertilizer rates (50, 70 and 90 kg N fed.^-1) on the yield and yield components of bread wheat in the New Valley. The most important findings could be summarized as follow:
-  Generally, yield and its attributes of wheat increased by adding compost. Application of 5 m³ fed.^-1 compost treatment gave the tallest plants and the maximum straw and grain yields fed.^-1, while application of 10 m³ fed.^-1 compost treatment gave the highest values of spike length, spikelets number spike^-1 and 1000-grains weight in both seasons, as well as application 10 m³ fed.^-1 and 5 m³ fed.^-1 compost treatments gave the maximum spikes number/m² in the 1^st and the 2^nd seasons, respectively.
-  Increasing nitrogen fertilizer rate up to 70 kg fed.^-1 increased yield and its components of wheat in both growing seasons. The maximum values of plant height, spikes number/m² and straw and grain yields fed.^-1 were obtained by using 70 kg N fed.^-1, while the tallest spike and the heaviest 1000-grains were obtained by using 90 kg N fed.^-1 in both seasons.
-  The tallest plants and the maximum values of spikes number m^-2 and straw yield fed.^-1 were recorded by applying 5 m³ fed.^-1 compost with 70 kg N fed.^-1 rate interaction treatment, while the maximum grain yield was recorded by applying 10 m³ fed.^-1 compost with 70 kg N fed.^-1 rate interaction treatment in both seasons. On the other hand, the highest values of spike length and spikelets number spike^-1 were recorded by applying 10 m³ fed.^-1 compost with 90 kg N fed.^-1 rate in both seasons, while the heaviest 1000-grains weight were recorded by applying 10 m³ fed.^-1 or 5 m² fed.^-1 compost with 90 kg N fed.^-1 rate interaction treatments in both seasons.