STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING WHEAT PRODUCTION IN WEST BENGAL BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY CAMPUS (November 18-19, 2011) PROF. GURUPADA SARKAR Director of Research BIDHAN CHANDRA KRISHI VISWA VIDYALAYA NADIA, WEST BENGAL

Hill Zone 3% Terai Zone 14% Old Alluvial Zone 20% New Alluvial Zone 22% Red and Laterite Zone 27% Coastal and saline Zone 14% UBKV BCKV AGROCLIMATIC ZONES OF WEST BENGAL ’ L, ’E; 9.75 m msl

Wheat scenario of West Bengal  Wheat area: lakh ha (India 28.5 m ha)  Production: 8.42 lakh tonne (India 85.9 mt)  Productivity : 2658 kg (India 2900 kg/ha)  Wheat occupies food grain area of the state: 6.0 %  Contribution to state’s food grain production: 5.06 %  Contribution to national wheat production: below 1.0%

YearWheat Area (Th. ha) Prodn. (Th. t) Yield (kg/ha) Wheat Production Scenario in West Bengal

West Bengal is not a major wheat producing state in India Its contribution to national wheat production is negligible, and to state’s food production is also not very significant Which requires attention from the planners and policy makers to increase the area and production of wheat for food and nutritional security of the state and the country as well.

The major constraints limiting the yield of wheat are: Late sowing because of excessive soil moisture after rice harvest Shorter wheat growing season because of short span of winter leading to incidence of high temperature during flowering and grain maturity Low mechanization Imbalanced nutrient use Poor land leveling Rain and storm during maturity, Severe pest s(white ants, rats and birds) and diseases (especially foliar blight) infestation Major irrigated areas of the state are occupied by vegetables, potato, rice and high value crops

The above graph depicts an increasing temperature and simultaneously decreasing yield trends over the years from 1995 onwards. WHEAT YIELD UNDER CHANGING CLIMATIC CONTION

CropCost of cultivation (Rs./ha) Gross return (Rs./ha) Net return (Rs./ha) B:C ratio Wheat Boro paddy Potato Brinjal Tomato Return from different crop during winter season

In West Bengal, the major wheat growing districts are: Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Uttar (North) Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Birbhum. These districts contribute about 87% production from 88% wheat area in the State

The non-traditional wheat growing districts of the state can be covered under wheat crop are: Wheat area in Bankura, 24-Parganas (North), Burdwan, Dakshin (South) Dinajpur and Midnapur (West) districts of the state can be increased under wheat crop.

DistrictPotential yield (t/ha) Farmers’ yield (t/ha) Yield gap (%) Burdwan Midnapur (W) Dinajpur (S) Bankura pgs (N) Climatic potential and district average yields and yield gaps in non-traditional districts of West Bengal

1.Increasing awareness among the farmers regarding cultivation of grain crops in general and wheat in particular because of less requirement of irrigation water as compared to boro rice 2.Availability of high yielding wheat varieties to be ensured for timely, late and rainfed cultivation 3.Adoption of conservation agriculture can be helpful in addressing the delayed sowing of wheat 4.Implements of conservation agriculture should be made available 5.Salinity tolerant wheat cultivars should be introduced in the saline zone What can be done for introduction of wheat crop in the non-traditional areas of the state?

Policy matters  Introduction of high yielding varieties with replacement of low potential and pest and disease susceptible varieties.  Increase of area under wheat with the reduction in boro(summer) rice area in the state  Encouragement for timely sowing for proper growth and increase productivity  Balanced use of plant nutrients along with the use of micro- nutrients as per soil test reports. Addition of organic matter to soil through green manuring and crop residue recycling, balanced fertilization, integrated nutrient management, diversification/intensification of rice-wheat system by including pulse crops are some of the possible remedial measures to improve soil productivity and hence, total factor productivity. Contd…..

 Organizing large scale on farm trials and demonstrations on newly released varieties and RCTs to generate acquaintance and confidence amongst the farmers.  Organizing farmers training programmes to educate the farmers regarding newly released varieties and up to date knowledge of POPs  Production of quality seeds in university and state farms  Creation of infrastructural facilities for storage of quality seeds  Developing market facilities for disposal of wheat at a remunerative price.

SEED PRODUCTION PROGRAMME  The centre used to multiply (8-10 q) seeds of some important varieties of the region every year (e.g. PBW 343, HD 2733, K 0307) and hand over the seeds (as TL Seed) to the Directorate of Farms of the University to supply it to the wheat growers through KVKs.  Currently Mega Seed project of the university has taken up wheat seed production programme  In West Bengal wheat seed produced and t in and , respectively

Research findings/Technologies developed

Sl. No. EntriesDays to maturity Test weight (g) Max. Yield (q/ha) 1.HUW PBW K C MACS HD HD Performance of genotypes under Rainfed condition

WHEAT ENTRIES TIMELY SOWN ( NOV.) WHEAT ENTRIES TIMELY SOWN ( NOV.) (YIELD q/ha) K K DBW PBW HD DBW HD HD HUW CBW PERFORMANCE OF WHEAT GENOTYPES UNDER IRRIGATED TIMELY SOWN CONDITION Range of yield : 34.0 to 36.5 q/ha

WHEAT ENTRIES LATE SOWN (17-23 DEC) WHEAT ENTRIES V. LATE SOWN (1-7 JAN) (Yield q/ha)(yield q/ha) WH HD DBW PBW Raj WH HI HI NW NW HD (Av. 28.9)DBW (Av. 21.4) 26% PERFORMANCE OF WHEAT GENOTYPES AT LATE AND VERY LATE SOWING UNDER IRRIGATED CONDITION HW 2045, DBW 14, PBW 343, HUW 234, NW 2036

Treatments Grain yield of wheat (qha -1 ) Grain yield of rice (qha -1 ) WEY (qha -1 ) T 1 : DSR (removal)- Wheat T 2 : DSR (straw incorporation)-W T 3 : T % N more )- Wheat T 4 : DSR (Burning)- Wheat T 5 : DSR (surface retention + 25% N more) Wheat T 6 : DSR (surface retention + Sesbania)- Wheat T 7 : DSR (surface retention)- Wheat (No fertilizer) T 8 : DSR (removal)- Wheat (No fertilizer) T 9 : Transplanted rice (removal) C.D. at 5% Management of rice residues in rice-wheat system ( )

Wheat genotypes Number of irrigations OneRankThreeRankFiveRank HD DBW RSP HD 2733 (c) PBW 343 (c) K 0307 (c) HD 2967 (I) DBW 39 (I) Mean % % Grain yield of timely sown wheat genotypes (q ha -1 ) at different irrigation schedules I 1 - at CRI (20-25 DAS) I 2 - at CRI, Tillering (40-45 DAS) and Boot leaf stage (75-80DAS) I 3 - at CRI, Tillering, Jointing (60-65 DAS), Boot leaf and Milk stages

Wheat varieties Yield (q/ha)Mean D 1 ( ) D 2 ( ) D 3 ( ) HD PBW K DBW Mean Grain yield of wheat genotypes (q ha -1 ) under different dates of normal sowing

 The extent of reduction in grain yield was and kg/ha/day for a delay of 15 and 30 days from 18 th November sown crop  KRL 19, KRL 210, KRL 213 were found to be best salt tolerant high yielding wheat cultivars at Sundarbans  Closer spacing ( cm) was found be better than previously followed 22.5 cm spacing in respect of grain yield  It was observed that 128 mm of water can be saved if wheat crop is irrigated with 2cm at 22 DAS, 4cm at 66 DAS and 4cm at 80 DAS as compared to irrigation at all stages (22, 46, 66 and 80 DAS) at 5 cm depth of water without sacrificing yield

Correlation Coefficient between Leaf Blight Severity (Y) and Different Weather Parameters Weather parameters Temp. Max (X 1 ) **0.99**0.97* Temp. Min (X 2 ) * * RH Max (X 3 ) RH Min (X 4 ) Rainfall (X 5 ) Sunshine hours (X 6 ) * Significant at 5% level; **Significant at 1% level Y = X X X X 6 [R 2 = 1.000; R 2 adj ]

Max. Temp C and min temp C favourable for the disease development

YEARFLD AREA (ha) NO. OF VILLAGES DISTRICTNO. OF DEMONST- RATIONS NADIA NADIA (32)8 (32) NADIA, BANKURA 67 (210) FRONT LINE DEMONSTRATION CONDUCTED

FLDs ( ) % % (18.96%) (7.16 %) FLDs ( ) FLDs ( ) 35.27%36.23% 10.87% %

 Development of short duration-cum-late heat tolerant wheat varieties to increase the area and production of wheat  Development of high yielding wheat varieties under rainfed/saline condition.  Quality improvement of wheat grain through breeding, agronomic manipulations and biofortification  Screening of the wheat germplasms against biotic and abiotic stresses Future thrust for XII Plan

 Develop integrated nutrient, weed and pest management practices for maximization of wheat yield under different agro-climatic situations of the state  Research is needed in improving the nutrient and water use efficiency of irrigated wheat  Fine tuning of RCTs for sustainability and higher productivity of rice-wheat and wheat-based cropping systems under different agro-climatic regions of West Bengal.  Development of leaf blight forewarning model for formulation of proper IPM strategy. Future thrust for XII Plan- contd. Increase in area under wheat should be the main thrust