scholarly journals A Review of Rain-Fed Wheat Production Constraints in Zambia

2019 ◽  
pp. 158-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Batiseba Tembo

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important food crop in Zambia. It is the second most widely grown cereal crop after maize. However, its production and productivity during summer rain season is limited by socio-economic, abiotic and biotic constraints. The socio-economic factors limiting high wheat yield are high cost of inputs, lack of improved rain-fed wheat seed, lack of affordable loans, lack of access to market information and poor mechanization. The abiotic constraints on the other hand include drought, high temperature and aluminium toxicity. Biotic constraints affecting rain-fed wheat production include various weeds, pests (aphids, grass hoppers, pink stalk borers and termites) and diseases (powderly mildew, loose smut, leaf rust, fusarium head blight and spot blotch). Termites being the most serious and destructive pest of rain-fed wheat. Spot blotch is the most devastating and widely distributed among the diseases causing high yield losses of between 7-100% followed by fusarium head blight. This review paper, looks at the factors that limit the production and productivity of rain-fed wheat among small holder farmers in Zambia.

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-495
Author(s):  
H. G. Nass ◽  
C. D. Caldwell ◽  
M. A. Price

Nass, a hard red, medium blend, spring milling wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.), is adapted to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. It has expressed high grain yield, good lodging resistance, a high level of resistance to powdery mildew, and a much higher than average resistance to fusarium head blight (FHB). Key words: Triticum aestivum, hard red spring wheat, yield, cultivar description, Fusarium head blight


2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Paul ◽  
M. P. McMullen ◽  
D. E. Hershman ◽  
L. V. Madden

Multivariate random-effects meta-analyses were conducted on 12 years of data from 14 U.S. states to determine the mean yield and test-weight responses of wheat to treatment with propiconazole, prothioconazole, tebuconazole, metconazole, and prothioconazole+tebuconazole. All fungicides led to a significant increase in mean yield and test weight relative to the check (D; P < 0.001). Metconazole resulted in the highest overall yield increase, with a D of 450 kg/ha, followed by prothioconazole+tebuconazole (444.5 kg/ha), prothioconazole (419.1 kg/ha), tebuconazole (272.6 kg/ha), and propiconazole (199.6 kg/ha). Metconazole, prothioconazole+tebuconazole, and prothioconazole also resulted in the highest increases in test weight, with D values of 17.4 to 19.4 kg/m3, respectively. On a relative scale, the best three fungicides resulted in an overall 13.8 to 15.0% increase in yield but only a 2.5 to 2.8% increase in test weight. Except for prothioconazole+tebuconazole, wheat type significantly affected the yield response to treatment; depending on the fungicide, D was 110.0 to 163.7 kg/ha higher in spring than in soft-red winter wheat. Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease index (field or plot-level severity) in the untreated check plots, a measure of the risk of disease development in a study, had a significant effect on the yield response to treatment, in that D increased with increasing FHB index. The probability was estimated that fungicide treatment in a randomly selected study will result in a positive yield increase (p+) and increases of at least 250 and 500 kg/ha (p250 and p500, respectively). For the three most effective fungicide treatments (metconazole, prothioconazole+tebuconazole, and prothioconazole) at the higher selected FHB index, p+ was very large (e.g., ≥0.99 for both wheat types) but p500 was considerably lower (e.g., 0.78 to 0.92 for spring and 0.54 to 0.68 for soft-red winter wheat); at the lower FHB index, p500 for the same three fungicides was 0.34 to 0.36 for spring and only 0.09 to 0.23 for soft-red winter wheat.


2010 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 941-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Bing Li ◽  
Guo Qiang Xie ◽  
Jun Ma ◽  
Gui Ru Liu ◽  
Shu Min Wen ◽  
...  

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1346
Author(s):  
Emad M. Hafez ◽  
Ahmed M. S. Kheir ◽  
Shimaa A. Badawy ◽  
Emadeldeen Rashwan ◽  
Mohamed Farig ◽  
...  

Given the expectancy of the water supply becoming scarce in the future and more expensive, water conservation during wheat production processes has become very crucial especially in saline sodic soil. Biochar and salicylic acid (SA) were used to assess the potential to alleviate the influences of depletion of available soil moisture (DAM) on physicochemical, physiological, biochemical attributes, as well as wheat production absorption (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Misr 1) and macro-elements. Two seasons (2018/2019 and 2019/2020) of field trials were investigated using twelve combinations of three water treatments (50%, 70%, and 90% DAM) and foliar- and soil-applied treatments (control, biochar, salicylic acid, and biochar + SA). Biochar treated plots amplified soil physicochemical attributes, leading to improved physiological traits and antioxidant enzymes, as well as yield related traits under water limitation conditions in both years. Similarly, synergistic use of biochar and salicylic acid greatly augmented the designed characteristics such as chlorophyll a, b, K+ content, relative water content (RWC), stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, and intrinsic water use efficiency, whilst exhibited inhibitory effects on proline content, electrolyte leakage, Na+ content SOD, POX, CAT, and MDA, consequently increased 1000-grain weight, number of grains spike−1, grain yield, as well nutrient uptake (N, P, K) under water limitation condition in both years, followed by treatment of sole biochar or SA compared to unamended plots treatment (control). Wheat productivity achieved further increasing at 70% DAM alongside synergistic use of biochar and SA which was on par with 50% DAM under unamended plots (control). It is concluded from the findings that coupled application of biochar alongside salicylic acid accomplished an efficient approach to mitigate the injurious influences of water limitation, along with further improvement of the soil, physiology, biochemical attributes, and wheat yield, as well nutrient uptake, under saline sodic soil.


2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-135
Author(s):  
D. Spaner ◽  
M. Iqbal ◽  
A. Navabi ◽  
K. Strenzke ◽  
B. Beres

Jake hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was developed using a modified bulk breeding method at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. Jake is an awned, hollow-stemmed line with high yield potential, medium tall plants, and medium maturity. During the three years (2015–2017) of evaluation in the Parkland Wheat Cooperative test, Jake yielded 6% higher than the mean of all of the checks, and matured 0.7 and 1.7 d later than Parata and Splendor but 2.9 d earlier than Glenn. Jake was 91.2 cm tall, shorter than AC Splendor (95.8 cm), but similar in height to Glenn (91.8 cm) and Parata (92 cm). The lodging score of Jake (2.2) was lower than Parata (3.1) and AC Splendor (3.1), but similar to Glenn. The test weight of Jake (80.8) was higher than AC Splendor (78.3), similar to Parata (80.5), but lower than Glenn (82.5). The grain weight of Jake (35.6 g) was similar to Parata (35.6 g), but lower than Glenn (36.7 g) and AC Splendor (37.4 g), while the NIR Protein of Jake (15.9%) was higher than Glenn (15.5%) and similar to the other checks. Jake was moderately resistant to resistant to leaf, stem, and stripe rusts, and moderately resistant to common bunt during the 3 yr of testing. The reaction of Jake to Fusarium head blight was variable and ranged from moderately susceptible to moderately resistant, with DON values similar to Carberry and Glenn. Three years of end-use quality evaluation has indicated that Jake is acceptable for the CWRS class.


2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 1271-1276 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Salmon ◽  
J. H. Helm ◽  
R. J. Graf ◽  
S. Albers ◽  
M. Aljarrah ◽  
...  

Salmon, D. F., Helm, J. H., Graf, R. J., Albers, S., Aljarrah, M., Xi, K., Oro, M., Lohr, S. and Bergen, C. 2015. Pintail general purpose winter wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 1271–1276. Pintail is an awnless hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar that was registered in 2012 and is eligible for grades of Canada Western General Purpose (CWGP) wheat. It was developed using wheat × maize-pollen doubled haploid techniques. Evaluated across western Canada from 2008 to 2010 relative to CDC Harrier, CDC Falcon and CDC Ptarmigan, Pintail expressed grain yield ranging from 98.6 to 105.8% of these CWGP wheat checks. Its area of greatest adaptation was in the parkland and semi-arid prairie regions of Alberta and western Saskatchewan, where cold tolerance is a primary concern. Pintail exhibited excellent winter survival, intermediate maturity, medium height and strong straw. Test weight was within the range of the checks, and kernel weight was lower than all of the checks. Pintail displayed moderate resistance to stripe rust, moderate susceptibility to stem and leaf rust, and susceptibility to common bunt and Fusarium head blight. The high yield and awnless spike of Pintail should make it particularly attractive in various livestock feed and forage applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-464
Author(s):  
Raja Khanal ◽  
Thin Meiw Choo ◽  
Allen G. Xue ◽  
Bernard Vigier ◽  
Marc E. Savard ◽  
...  

Forty-eight spring barley genotypes were evaluated for deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration under natural infection across 5 years at Harrington, Prince Edward Island. These genotypes were also evaluated for Fusarium head blight (FHB) severity and DON concentration under field nurseries with artificial inoculation of <i>Fusarium graminearum</i> by the grain spawn method across 2 years at Ottawa, Ontario, and one year at Hangzhou, China. Additionally, these genotypes were also evaluated for FHB severity under greenhouse conditions with artificial inoculation of <i>F. graminearum</i> by conidial suspension spray method across 3 years at Ottawa, Ontario. The objective of the study was to investigate if reactions of barley genotypes to artificial FHB inoculation correlate with reactions to natural FHB infection. DON concentration under natural infection was positively correlated with DON concentration (<i>r</i> = 0.47, <i>P</i> < 0.01) and FHB incidence (<i>r</i> = 0.56, <i>P</i> < 0.01) in the artificially inoculated nursery with grain spawn method. Therefore, the grain spawn method can be used to effectively screen for low DON. FHB severity, generated from greenhouse spray, however, was not correlated with DON concentration (<i>r</i> = 0.12, <i>P</i> > 0.05) under natural infection and it was not correlated with DON concentration (<i>r</i> = -0.23, <i>P</i> > 0.05) and FHB incidence (<i>r</i> = 0.19, <i>P</i> > 0.05) in the artificially inoculated nursery with grain spawn method. FHB severity, DON concentration, and yield were affected by year, genotype, and the genotype × year interaction. The effectiveness of greenhouse spray inoculation for indirect selection for low DON concentration requires further studies. Nine of the 48 genotypes were found to contain low DON under natural infection. Island barley had low DON and also had high yield.


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