Phosphorus seed coating as starter fertilization for spring malting barley

Abstract

Abstract Experiments were conducted with malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars in 2003 and 2004 in central, western and southern Lithuania to test phosphorus (P) availability at early seedling growth stage with P seed coating. Phosphorus seed coating resulted in alteration to plant stand structure traits. Despite the fact that seedling emergence sometimes decreased, the number of total and productive stems, number of grains per ear and 1000-grain weight increased. The positive effect of P seed coating on grain yield was revealed when the growth conditions during post-anthesis were favourable for exploiting the potential that was obtained during the pre-anthesis phase. In our experiment favourable conditions were considered those that generated a grain yield over 6 t ha−1. According to path coefficients analyses the significant positive effect of P seed coating on malting barley yield increase was related to seed weight increase. Although P seed coating slightly increased single grain N concentration and thus grain protein concentration, grain protein concentration ranged from 8.6% to 10.2% and met the quality standard requirements for malting barley in all trials and treatments.