Effect of Sowing and Harvesting Dates on Yield and Yield Components of Some Barley Cultivars

                Two field experiments were conducted at Moshtohor region, Kalubia Governorate, Egypt, during 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, to study the effect of three sowing dates (1^st November, 15^th November, 1^st December) and three harvesting dates (Harvesting at 150 DAS after sowing  , Harvesting at 165 DAS after sowing, Harvesting at 180 DAS after sowing) on yield and yield components of two barley cultivars (Giza 2000 and Bhoth 244). The experimental design was randomized complete block design using split split-plots arrangement with three replications. Sowing dates was arranged in the main plots and barley cultivars was arranged at random in the sub plots, while harvesting dates were arranged randomly by in the sub sub-plots. The main results were as follows: Sowing at 1^st or 15^th of November gave the highest values of all studied traits except spike length and harvest index in first season and plant height in second season. Meanwhile, Bhoth 244 cultivar gave the highest values of spike length, No. spikelets spike^-1, spike weight, No. grains spike^-1, grain yield fed^-1 and straw yield fed^-1, whereas Giza 2000 cultivar gave the highest values of plant height, 1000-kernel weight and harvest index in the first and second seasons. Harvesting at 150 DAS increased significantly spike weight, No. grains spike^-1, 1000-kernel weight and straw yield fed^-1 compared with the other harvesting dates, while spike length, No. spikelets spike^-1, grain yield fed^-1 and harvest index increased significantly by harvesting at 180 DAS in both seasons. Plant height, spike weight, No. grains spike^-1, grain yield fed^-1 and straw yield fed^-1 were affected by the interaction between sowing dates and barley cultivars in both seasons except plant height in the second season and No. grains spike^-1 in the first season. Moreover, plant height, spike length, spike weight, No. grains spike^-1, 1000-kernel weight, grain yield fed^-1, straw yield fed^-1 and harvest index were affected by the interaction between sowing dates and harvesting dates in both seasons except plant height, spike length, straw yield fed^-1 and harvest index in the first season. While, plant height, No. spikelets spike^-1, spike weight, No. grains spike^-1, 1000-kernel weight, grain yield fed^-1, straw yield fed^-1 and harvest index were affected by the interaction between barley cultivars and harvesting dates in both seasons except plant height, No. spikelets spike^-1, grain yield fed^-1, straw yield fed^-1 and harvest indexin the first season. Regarding the interaction effect, among sowing dates, barley cultivars and harvesting dates were significant differences of plant height, spike weight, No. grains spike^-1, 1000-kernel weight, grain yield fed^-1, straw yield fed^-1 and harvest index in both seasons except straw yield fed^-1 and harvest index in the first season. It can be concluded that sowing Bhoth 244 cultivar in 1^st or 15^th November and harvesting at 180 DAS produced the height yield productivity under the conditions of this experiment.