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23/02/23 12:52 PM IST

ICAR develops wheat that can beat the heat

In News
  • ICAR scientists breed new climate-smart varieties, amenable to early sowing and escaping the impact of March mercury spikes.
About New Varieties
  • The first, HDCSW-18, was released and officially notified in 2016.
  • Although having a potential wheat yield of over 7 tonnes per hectare – as against 6-6.5 tonnes for existing popular varieties.
  • Being tall, compared to 90-95 cm for normal high-yielding varieties, made them prone to lodging or bending over when their ear heads were heavy with well-filled grains.
  • The second variety HD-3410, released in 2022, has higher yield potential (7.5 tonnes/hectare) with lower plant height (100-105 cm).
  • The third one, HD-3385, looks the most promising, it is the least lodging-prone and most amenable for early sowing.
  • IARI has registered HD-3385 with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA).
Why these varieties ?
  • The Union Agriculture Ministry announced that it had set up a committee to monitor the situation arising from the increase in temperatures and its impact, if any, on the current wheat crop.
  • This comes even as cereal inflation soared to a record 16.12 per cent year-on-year in January – driven primarily by wheat and atta (flour), whose consumer prices registered an annual increase of 25.05 per cent.
  • The situation has been rendered worse by wheat stocks in government godowns: These, at 154.44 lakh tonnes on February 1, were the lowest in six years for the same date.
Source- Indian Express

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