Grain Yield and Protein Quality Traits of Durum Wheat

This research was about investigating the effect of different rates of nitrogen and sulfur on yield components and protein quality parameters of durum wheat and to evaluate the associations among yield and quality parameters. The treatments included four nitrogen rates of 0, 60, 120 and 180 kg N/ha and sulfur rates of 0, 15,30, 45 and 60 kg S/ha. The experiment was laid out in RCB design with three replications. Analysis of the test soils showed a low content of total N and medium to high contents of available sulfur. Analysis of Variance showed no effect of location, nitrogen or fertilization on crop phenological parameters. The ANOVA also indicated a significant interaction effect of location and fertilizer rates on yield components, N and S parameters, gluten parameters as well as alveograph parameters. increasing N rate increased spike length and grain yield while increasing S rate did not change these traits. Differences existed between locations in gluten and physical quality parameters. N increased gluten content while S had variable effect across locations. elasticity was not affected by N and S whereas extensibility was variable.