Ludhiana | PAU recommends PBW 826 wheat, OL 16 oats for general cultivation in Punjab
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, vice-chancellor, PAU, Ludhiana, and Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, director of research, PAU, congratulated the wheat improvement research team and the forage improvement team for developing these varieties.
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has developed and recommended two new varieties, namely PBW 826 of wheat and OL 16 of oats for general cultivation in Punjab. Both varieties were approved during the meeting of the State Variety Approval Committee held under the chairmanship of Dr Gurvinder Singh, director of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Punjab, recently.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, vice-chancellor, PAU, and Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, director of research, PAU, congratulated the wheat improvement research team and the forage improvement team for developing these varieties.
Dr Ashok Kumar, director of extension education, PAU, informed that the seed of the new wheat variety PBW 826 will be available for purchase at all the kisan melas being organised by the PAU, Ludhiana, at various locations across the state, including Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bathinda, Rauni (Patiala), Faridkot, Ballowal Saunkhri (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar), besides the main campus at Ludhiana in September.
The new wheat variety PBW 826 has been approved for cultivation in the state under irrigated timely sown conditions. Its average grain yield is 24.0 quintals per acre.
Based on adaptive and multi-location research trials conducted under irrigated, timely-sown conditions in the state, wheat variety PBW 826 out-yielded the check varieties HD 3086, HD 2967, DBW 187, DBW 222 and PBW 766 by 15.5, 31.6, 11.3, 8.7 and 4.4 per cent, respectively.
It possesses higher grain weight and hectolitre weight than check varieties. Its average plant height is 100 cm and is thus slightly shorter in height than other recently released varieties. It matures in about 148 days and is thus about 4-6 days earlier in maturity than other recent checks. It is relatively less sensitive to high-temperature stress.
This is further corroborated by its outstanding performance under diverse agro-climatic conditions encompassing several locations with high-temperature stress. In research trials at the national level, PBW 826 ranked first for grain yield in the north-western plains zones of India (NWPZ) during all three years of testing (2019-20 to 2021-22) as well as in the north-eastern plains zone of India (NEPZ) during 2019-2020 and 2020-21. Based on its splendid performance for grain yield and other traits, it has also been identified for release in the entire NWPZ and NEPZ, simultaneously, which is a rarity.
Oat is primarily a fodder crop of Punjab and PAU has till date released several fodder varieties of oat. However, recently oat has emerged as a breakfast cereal and keeping this in view, the State Variety Approval Committee has approved a new oat variety OL 16 (dual type) for cultivation in the state. It has good fodder, grain and flour quality as well.
Its first cut for fodder can be taken at 65-70 days after sowing and yields on an average about 90.0 quintals of green fodder per acre. Its regenerated crop, upon maturity, gives an average 7.6 quintals per acre grain yield.
PAU hails Sukhpal’s appointment as head of Punjab farmers’ commission
Ludhiana Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) authorities hailed the state government’s decision to appoint agro-economist Sukhpal as the chairperson of Punjab State Farmer Commission. A principal economist and the former head of the department of economics and sociology in the university, Sukhpal has worked on tracking farmer indebtedness-related suicides. He was behind the exhaustive survey on farmers’ suicide in Punjab which later was undertaken by Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University in 2016.
Hailing from Bapiana village in Mansa district, Sukhpal has undertaken 20 research projects on depeasantisation, rural suicides, rural education, rural marketing and farm reforms.
He has extensive experience in agricultural issues along with a degree in economics, and post-graduate research at the International Centre for Development Oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA), Wageningen, Netherlands.
An author of two research books, 83 research bulletins/ reports and over 200 research/policy papers, he is a recipient of the German Fellowship Award by the ICRA Netherlands.
Vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal congratulated Sukhpal and said that his role as the chairman of the commission would establish the foundation for pushing the agrarian economy of the state to a growth trajectory. His compassion for farmers and scientific temperament towards agriculture are a match made in heaven, he added.
Sukhpal said he would leave no stone unturned to work for the well being of farmers who shoulder the responsibility of nation’s food security. He would focus on enhancing farmers’ income and enhance profitability along with conservation of natural resources. A long-term agricultural policy for the state would be his key concern as the earlier drafts policies of 2012 and 2017 never saw the light of the day, he said.