Wheat in Pakistan

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nasirhussain
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Wheat in Pakistan

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HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN PAKISTANThe economic history of Pakistan was dominated by the performance of its agricultural sector. Since Independence in 1947 and a slow start in the early years, the growth of agricultural production accelerated. On average over the entire period till present, the rate of growth amounted to almost 4.0 percent per annum, even when some slowing down can be observed in recent years, since around 1990.The Environment of Agricultural Innovationhe capacity of Pakistan’s agriculture to feed a large and growing population is not provided by nature itself. The country has an arid climate and what little rainfall occurs tends to be unreliable. The natural conditions by themselves make agriculture risky.Although the supply of irrigation water permitted multiple cropping, this did not, in fact, take place in the early years except in a limited area of the Northwest Frontier Province.WHEAT IN PAKISTANPakistan has been divided into ten production zones because of great agro ecological areas where wheat is grown. The zoning is mainly based on cropping pattern, disease prevalence and climatological factors. However, production zones need to be revisited.In Pakistan, wheat is grown in different cropping systems, such as; cotton – wheat, rice – wheat, sugarcane – wheat, maize – wheat, fallow – wheat. Of these, Cotton-Wheat and Rice-Wheat systems together account about 60% of the total wheat area whereas rain-fed wheat covers more than 1.50 m ha area. Rotations with Maize-Sugarcane, Pulses and fallow are also important.WHEAT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENTIn 1977-78 a disease epidemic of yellow rust inflicted heavy losses to the wheat production in the country. As a consequence, it was realized that there is need of strengthening the agricultural research in the country. Therefore, the government decided to reactivate the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) as the coordinating body for agricultural research programs on major crops in the provinces. Since the inception of Wheat, Barley and Triticale Program, considerable and continuous role has been played by it in conducting research and developmental activities to increase the production of wheat in different agro-ecological zones of Pakistan and thereby, increase farm income. The program adopts a multi-disciplinary approach in order to evolve stable, high yielding wheat varieties and also develop and update a package of crop management practices. The program has initiated following major activities to realize the increased wheat production in the country:At present, the Wheat research programs are giving due emphasis on the following researchable areas:a. Drought/Heat Toleranceb. Diseasesc. Salinityd. Crop ManagementDrought/Heat Tolerance: Pakistan has been facing water shortages and drought conditions for the last several years except 2004-05 (wet year) due to lesser rains and high temperatures with the result wheat production both in irrigated and rainfed areas is being hampered. In order to minimize the effects of drought and high temperatures, drought and heat tolerant varieties need to be evolved in addition to the judicial use of available irrigation water.Diseases: Diseases, especially rusts (Stripe/Yellow Rust, Stem Rust, Leaf Rust and emerging scenario of Powdery Mildew) are major biotic stresses of wheat crop which inflict heavy losses when in epidemic form. Therefore, breeders and pathologists are given priority to develop disease resistant and high yielding varieties in order to cope with threats created by ever changing rust races by using approaches like durable resistance.Salinity: It is another menace to which wheat is exposed in saline areas of Pakistan. Therefore, there is need to evolve salt tolerant wheat varieties for such ecologies by introducing salt tolerant genes like BADH using novel breeding techniques.Crop Management: Farmers generally plant wheat late in rice-wheat, sugarcane-wheat, and cotton-wheat areas of Pakistan due to late harvesting of these kharif crops which results in drastic low yields because the crop is exposed to heat stress at grain filling period leading to the formation of shriveled grain. Currently, only 20% of wheat is being planted at optimum planting time (15th October to 15th November). To achieve good yield, wheat sowing should be carried out well in time. Any delay in planting would reduce yield drastically. For example, wheat planted after 10th November would reduce the yield as high as 42 kg/ha/day (1% loss per day). There will be 8, 16, 32 and 50% reduction in wheat grain yield for each fortnightly after 10th November. In late-planted wheat, the yield reduction is due to shorter growth period and high temperature at crop maturity. Late-planted crop has lower germination, fewer tillers, smaller heads, shriveled grain and lower biomass than the timely-planted crop. Therefore, the change in sowing time from present to two weeks earlier could result in addition of 2.0 million tones in national wheat production.work on wheat variety in pakistan•A versatile wheat variety LU26 was released in 1976.•Promising wheat lines viz; 9268, 9272, 9276, 9277, 9316, 9476, 8864, 8975 and 9068 performed better than the local check varieties in yield trials.•The elite lines viz; 9476 and 9268 have been contributed as candidate varieties for inclusion in Medium tall wheat varieties trials, AARI, Faisalabad and National Uniform Wheat Yield Trials, PARC, Islamabad, respectively.•The wheat lines 9268, 9277 and 9476 showed acceptable performance under simulated drought conditions showing higher rate of survival under various stress components.•The new promising wheat lines viz; 9189, 9244 and 9247 are in the process of final evaluation.•Some wheat lines viz. LU26S, 243-1, 7 HTN and 51 HTN 4WCRG/1-8 have also been identified as salt tolerant on the basis of seedling traits.•These lines were hybridized and about 150 single head progenies have been selected from their F6 populations.Others Wheat VarietiesBRAVO: (Released in 1999)A beardless white chaff variety, it is a very early heading cultivar with excellent test weight; averaging 2 lbs/bu above ‘Hopewell’. Bravo is similar to Hopewell in plant height but has improved straw strength. Bravo has returned excellent milling and baking scores, has shown good resistance to leaf rust and excellent resistance to powdery mildew. Bravo is a solid overall variety.ROSCO:A beardless, white chaffed variety, Rosco has excellent straw strength and winter hardiness and is medium early. Rosco has slightly out yielded Honey in three years of replicated tests. It has excellent milling and baking quality. Rosco has excellent leaf rust resistance and moderately good mildew resistance.Hopewell, Bravo, or Pioneer 2540. Honey has very good leaf rust resistance and excellent mildew resistance. It has shown excellent milling and baking scores. It has excellent winter hardiness and has an average test weight which is 1 lb/bu above Hopewell.LISBO:Beardless and white chaffed, Lisbo has better test weight than Rosco and Hopewell, close to that of Honey. Lisbo is slightly shorter than Rosco and a day or so later than Rosco in heading. It has excellent mildew and leaf rust resistance.VICAR:Beardless and white chaffed, Vicar is medium early line, very short and stiff with an excellent field appearance and excellent disease resistance. Milling and baking quality are acceptable. Test weight is good averaging 1 lb/bu above Hopewell.LASER :Beardless and white chaffed. Laser is an extremely early heading line with high yield potential and very high test weight. It appears to be a quick ripener. It has good milling and baking quality. Laser is a newer experimental line not yet tested extensively but shows excellent promise.EAGLE, IVORY & ALPHA :These three lines are the newest, extremely promising lines emanating from our breeding pipeline. They showed extremely high straw strength and yield in 2002 trials; out yielding our best check varieties by 10-15%.VALOR :A soft red winter wheat variety developed by sunbeam extract co. And made available for nonexclusive licensing and branding by various companies. Valor, therefore may be available to the public under several different names. Valor has exhibited extremely high yield potential under most environments tested except in the mid-south. It has excellent powdery mildew resistance, is midseason in maturity and medium in height. This beardless variety has excellent winter hardiness and straw strength.HUSKY :Beardless medium height, but has shown some unevenness has has excellent “field appeal” and a robust growth habit with large heads. It is medium in height and midseason in maturity. Heads have almost no tip awn at all. Is moderately resistant to powdery mildew. Has excellent yield and test weight record.DAISY :A soft red winter wheat variety developed by Sunbeam Extract Co. and recently licensed exclusively to Central Ohio Seed Testing, Inc. (a subsidiary of Ohio Seed Improvement Assoc.) The variety may be renamed for marketing. Daisy is a high yielding variety with excellent resistance to lodging. It is beardless and averages 2 days earlier in maturity than Hopewell and is about 1 inch shorter in stature. Daisy has among the best milling and baking qualities of all varietiesTOTEM :Beardless, very erect and short. Totem is very early, has good powdery mildew resistance and excellent straw strength. It is blue green in foliage color. Still in early stages of testing, but looks to be a very promising new line.DARBY :Beardless, but with long tip awns. Yellow-green, very large heads with purplish anthers. Though slightly tall it has excellent straw strength. Brown chaffed at maturity.JIFFY :Jiffy is a very early maturing variety being offered to private seed companies for branding. It has the same maturity as Patterson and is about one inch shorter, but has considerably higher yield potential. This beardless variety has excellent test weight, straw strength, winter hardiness and is moderately resistant to powdery mildewHarpo :Beardless, slightly tall and shows moderate height variation even thought it appears pure. Has shown little spindle streak mosaic virus or mildew. Maturity is very similar to Honey and Daisy: several days earlier than Hopewell. Usually high in test weight. Straw strength appears very good. Has exhibited acceptable milling and baking quality, but does not rate high in these categories.Tatoo–a hard red winter wheat :Beardless, slightly tall , blue green foliage, long tip awns, has appeared very pure and uniform in nurseries. Has shown little mildew or scab. Heading date a little later than Hopewell
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