An experiment was conducted in the experimental field of Rajshahi University Campus, Bangladesh during the rabi season of [2004][2005] to study the growth attributes of four varieties of barley (BARI Barley-1, BARI Barley-2, BHL-3, BL-1) in relation to different soil moisture regimes and NPK fertilizers. Three levels of irrigation (I0, I1, I2) and four levels of NPK fertilizers (F0, F1, F2, F3) were adopted in split-split plot design with three replications. Total dry matter (TDM), leaf area index (LAI) and crop growth rate (CGR) were increased with increasing number of irrigations. Net assimilation rate (NAR) fluctuated but in most of the cases, it was highest and lowest in the I2 treatment at the first and last harvest. With few exceptions, I0 treatment had the highest and lowest leaf area ratio (LAR) at the first and last harvest, respectively. The highest and lowest TDM, LAI and CGR were in the F3 and F0 treatment, respectively. NAR was higher in the fertilized plant than in the control plants. The highest and the lowest LAR were in the F0 treatment at the first and last harvest, respectively. Most of the growth attributes were higher in BHL-3.

An experiment was conducted to study the influence of soil moisture, NPK fertilizers and variety on yield and yield components of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plant height, tiller number, extrusion length, spikelet number, plant weight, grain number, 100-grain weight and grain yield were observed highest in the I 2 (40 mm irrigation water) and F 3 (120N 75P 45K) treatments. I 2 (40 mm irrigation water ) and F 3 (120N 75P 45K) treatments had the highest consumptive water use (CWU). But the highest water use efficiency (WUE) was observed in the I 0 (no irrigation) and F 3 treatments. Cultivar BARI-Barley-2 had the highest CWU, while cultivar BL-1 had the highest WUE.

An experiment was conducted in the experimental field of Rajshahi University Campus (AEZ-11) to study the influence of soil moisture and NPK fertilizers on grain growth of four varieties of barley (Hordeum velgare L.). Spikelet number (SN), spike dry weight (SDW), grain number (GN), grain dry weight (GDW), spike relative growth rate (spike RGR) and grain relative growth rate (grain RGR) were observed highest in the highest level of irrigation (40 mm) . The highest amount of fertilizer (120N 75P 45K) produced the highest SN, SDW, GN, GDW, spike RGR and grain RGR. BHL-3 produced the highest SN, BARI Barley -2 produced the highest spike RGR, BARI Barley -1 produced the highest grain RGR and BL-1 produced the highest SDW, GN, and GDW.

The experiments are conducted in the experimental field of the Department of Botany, Rajshahi University during the winter season of 2005-2006 to study the effects of soil moisture and NPK fertilizers on grain growth of four barley varieties (Hordeum vulgare L.) following split-split plot design. The highest grain growth parameters like, spikelet number, spike dry weight, grain number and grain dry weight, spike relative growth rate and grain relative growth rate were observed in the I2 treatment at different days after anthesis. F3 treatment produced the highest spikelet number, spike dry weight, grain number, grain dry weight, spike relative growth rate and grain relative growth rate but the control produced the lowest values. BHL-3 produced higher spikelet number and grain relative growth rate. BL-1 produced higher spike dry weight, grain number, grain dry weight and spike relative growth rate.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v19i1.16985 Progress. Agric. 19(1): 13 - 21, 2008