Effect of sowing dates and foliar spraying by some antioxidants on yield and its components for two bread wheat cultivars in New Valley governorate, Egypt

Two field experiments were conducted in El-Monera village, the New Valley governorate, Egypt, during the two successive winter seasons of 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, to study the effect of three sowing dates i.e., (1st November (D1), 15th November (D2) and 1st December (D3)) and foliar spray with antioxidants (Ascorbic acid, citric acid and ascorbic + citric acids at 200 ppm and tap water as control) on two bread wheat cultivars (Sids12 and Misr1) under New Valley governorate conditions. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in spilt-split plots with three replications. The obtained results pointed to sowing date, antioxidants treatments and wheat cultivars had highly significant effect (prob ˂0.01) on all studied traits in both seasons. The highest values of total chlorophyll content, flag leaf area, plant height, number of grain /spike, 1000-grain weight and number of spikes /m2 as well as grain and straw yields ton /feddan (feddan = 4200 m² = 0.420 hectares = 1.037 acres) were recorded when wheat was sown at 15th November. On the other hand, the highest percent of protein in grain were recorded at1st December. Ascorbic + citric acids at 200 ppm foliar spray treatment gave the highest values of all studied traits. Also, Misr-1 cultivar was superior to Sids-12 in all traits under study. The first and second order interactions exerted significant effects on all most traits under study. In general, the highest grain and straw yields were obtained from Misr-1 cultivar when was sown at15th November and was sprayed with mix of ascorbic/citric acids at 200 ppm.