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ICAR identifies 3 new wheat varieties

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Sept. 13

THE Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has identified three new varieties of wheat for the north-east plain zones (NEPZ), which covers central Uttar Pradesh (UP), east UP, Bihar, Bengal and Assam.

The varieties recommended by a national workshop of wheat scientists, held recently under the aegis of the ICAR, are the short duration (120 days) HD 2733 for the irrigated areas, VL804 for the resource poor, hilly areas and the PBW 343 variety. The move was part of the strategy drawn up by the workshop to further increase the overall production and national average for the forthcoming wheat cropping season. The country had harvested a record 74.25 million tonnes this year and achieved a productivi ty of 2.85 tonnes per hectare.

The achievement put the country's per hectare productivity ahead of the US, which averages 2.8 tonnes per hectare. In total production the country had surpassed the US in 1998 itself, according to the ICAR.

However, the yield differences in the country vary substantially from 4 tonnes per hectare in the North-West plains to only 2.7 tonnes per hectare in east UP, north Bihar several of the NEPZ regions.

The focus of the ICAR and wheat scientists now would be on improving the per hectare yields in these areas. Accordingly, the workshop has suggested, in addition to the new high yielding varieties, the use of zero-tillage drill, which helps in reducing th e time gap between the harvesting of rice and sowing of wheat.

In the eastern region, rice is harvested late, resulting in late sowing of wheat and thus leading to reduced yields with the normal wheat varieties and sowing practices, the workshop observed.