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PAU
wheat research lauded LUDHIANA
— The 39th All India Wheat Research Workers’ meet was organised
by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at Banaras
Hindu University, Varanasi, recently where 14 wheat scientists from
PAU, led by Dr G.S. Nanda, Professor and Head, Department of Plant
Breeding, participated. The
group was particularly appreciative of the enormous improvement in
production (at 15.9 million tonnes) and productivity (at 4704 kg/ha)
of Punjab primarily due to adoption of the wheat variety PBW 343.
Its widespread cultivation in the north-western region spoke of its
merits which were also recognised by farmers. PAU
wheat breeder’s team was honoured during the inaugural session of
the workshop with two plaques — one for development of the wheat
variety PBW 343 for irrigated and timely-sown conditions of the
North-Eastern Plains Zone. The second plaque was awarded for
development of wheat variety PBW 396, for rainfed timely-sown
conditions of the North- Western Plains zone. The
varieties evaluated in the national initial varietal trials are
contributed by all wheat programmes in the country as per a fixed
allotted quota, which is about 8 per cent for the PAU varieties. The
relative proportion in advanced Varietal Trials is an indicator of
the performance of a breeding programme. In the irrigated AVT
trials, to be conducted in NWPZ during 2000-01, about 46 per cent of
the entries are from PAU alone. Similarly, two (PBW 486 and PBW 487)
out of the three final year entries in rainfed AVT trial of NWPZ are
PAU varieties. A special committee on varietal identification met on Aug 28, at BHU, Varanasi. The committee was highly impressed by the outstanding performance of PBW 343 in the North-Western Plains Zone that has been consistently occupying first rank in the zone for the last nine years. This single variety has contributed enormously to food security and the economy of the country. It was established that PBW 343 has been occupying first rank during past three years even in the North- Eastern Zone as well. Therefore, the committee decided to release PBW 343 for irrigated timely-sown conditions of the North Eastern Plains Zone also to improve the wheat production in the sleeping giant i.e. the North Eastern Plains Zone. Source:
Tribune News Service Sept 18, 2000
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