Economics of wheat as influenced by natural farming, organic farming and recommended package of practices

A field experiment was laid out on split-plot design with two uneven controls viz. four foliar concentrations of cow urine and jeevamrutha under natural farming which were compared with Organic farming (OF) and Recommended package of practices (RPP) given by UAS, Dharwad. The treatments were replicated thrice. The study revealed that RPP recorded significantly higher grain yield, straw yield, gross return, net return and B:C ratio than OF and natural farming practices. The grain yield reduction in the best treatment (cow urine @ 50 % + jeevamrutha @ 100 %) was 16 % lesser than RPP and 2 % higher than OF. However, the cost of cultivation in natural farming with cow urine @ 50 % + jeevamrutha @ 100 % was lesser to the extent of 6.91 and 30.42 % than RPP and OF. Our study indicates that the irrigated wheat can be grown under natural farming conditions profitably.

Soil-moisture and evapotranspiration simulations for irrigated wheat using Soil- Plant-Atmosphere- Water (SPAW ) model

goil-Plant -Atmosph erc-Watcr (S PAW) model has been applied 10 sim ula te soil-moistureprofiles for .... hea l in Delhi. Prescr ibed Inrorrnation on wheat growt h characteristics and soils alongwit h dailymeteorological data on evaporation an d rainfall were used to estima te soil- moi sture 31 a locat ion in Delhi for I Iyear s. Soil moisture simulations from model runs of consecu tive f,."T"0P seasons from 1979-80 10 1989-90 were infa vourable agreement with the gravimetrically measured obse rved dat a. Comparisons were also made for themo del gene rat ed eva pot ra nspi rat ion values. Ccrrcla tionv between observed a nd simu la ted soil-moisture in tho:different layers ra nged from 0 .7 to 0.85 for the tl -year period . Similarl y. integrated co lumn moisture amountsduring d iffe rent stage; of the crop also sho wed sign ificant cor rela tio ns ra nging from 0 .4 to 0 .8 . The model exhibitsa tendency to syste-n nicall v over estimate soil-moist ure du ring the final stage s of crop. possibly due I,)im perfections in in put . model a rt ifacts an~ observationa l ina deq uaci es. H ONe..-er-. the overall ability of the modelto rep roduce obser ved changes m soil-moisture for activ ely growing wheat crop In Indian con ditions, underlinesito; uti lity.

AAC Paramount soft white spring wheat

AAC Paramount is a soft white spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar that meets the end-use quality specifications of the Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS) class. AAC Paramount is adapted to the irrigated wheat growing regions of southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, and for dry land production in the western prairies. On average, AAC Paramount had 6% higher grain yield (under both irrigated and dry land conditions) than the check cultivar AC Andrew. AAC Paramount exhibited excellent straw strength and similar maturity to AC Andrew and Sadash but was 2 d earlier than AAC Indus. Its plant height was taller than both AC Andrew and Sadash but similar to AAC Indus. AAC Paramount exhibited high levels of resistance to the prevalent races of stripe rust, powdery mildew, and loose smut; intermediate reactions to leaf rust, stem rust, and kernel black point; was moderately susceptible to Fusarium head blight and leaf spot diseases, and susceptible to common bunt.

Risk Factors in Various Climates of Wheat Production in Western Iran: Experts’ Opinions

Agriculture is the origin of existence and survival in any society. However, this sector is always associated with risk and uncertainty, and farmers are faced with many challenges. Therefore, the main aim of this research was to explore the (production) risk factors of irrigated wheat production systems among farmers in Kermanshah province, Iran. The exploratory nature of this study on the one hand and the need for expert judgment on the other hand necessitated a Delphi research design. Thus, this study utilized a three-round Delphi technique. The population comprised of 10 subject-matter experts (SME) and 32 agricultural extension experts in two climates (warm and semi-arid and cold and moderate) in seven counties in Kermanshah province. A purposeful (complete) sample of 42 experts in the agricultural field participated in this study. Data were collected using a questionnaire designed on the basis of the Delphi technique. The findings indicated that, after three rounds of Delphi technique, the panel members reached a consensus on 75 factors which were categorized into biological, natural, managerial, and technological-structural groups for production risk. The results of this research provide useful insights for researchers, extension agents, and farmers.

Risk of heavy metals accumulation in soil and wheat grains with waste water irrigation under different NPK levels in alkaline calcareous soil

A field study was conducted on the reuse of wastewater from Mardan city to evaluate its risk of contaminating soil and wheat grains at different NPK levels. Three irrigation sources i.e. waste water (WW), canal water (CW) and alternate waste + canal water (WW+CW) were applied to wheat (cv Atta Habib 2010) grown at 0, 50, 75 and 100% NPK levels of 120:90:60 kg N:P2O5:K2O ha-1 at Palatoo Research Farm, Amir Muhammad Khan Campus, Mardan during 2015.The results showed higher grain and biomass yields in WW irrigated plots as compared to CW at NPK levels up to 50% of recommending dose revealing supplementing nutrient requirements in deficient conditions. However, irrigation of WW at higher NPK levels especially at or beyond 75% of recommended dose tended to reduce the crop yield that could be associated with heavy metals toxicity and nutritional imbalances. The use of WW substantially increased AB-DTPA extractable Zn, Mn, Pb, Ni and Cd indicating a potential threat to soil contamination. Similarly, WW irrigated wheat had higher concentrations of these heavy metals as compared to CW which limits its use for production purposes without any remediation measures. The alternate use of CW and WW as revealed by its comparative lower contamination in soil and wheat than sole WW could be one of the possible solutions and may increase the time required for threshold soil contamination.

Assessment of the amount of inputted energy and discharged greenhouse gasses from wheat cultivation in Ardabil province of Iran

preventing greenhouse gasses discharge and proper environment maintenance is crucial for human race. For a sustained agricultural development, managing energy consumption and greenhouse gasses discharge (GHG) is important in all agricultural agroecosystem. This study aims to compare wheat cultivation in irrigated and dryland wheat production using energy usage-based greenhouse gas discharge in diverse climatic areas. Throughout 2019, a face-to-face questionary was used to obtain data from wheat cultivators. The total energy usage according to gathered data are 14975 and 54963.9 MJ ha−1 for dryland and irrigated wheat production. In dryland wheat production, energy consumption efficiency was 16% higher compared to energy consumption efficiency of irrigated wheat production. The total amount of GHG for dryland wheat production was 370.5 kg CO2-eq t−1 and 520.62 kg CO2-eq ha−1 and for irrigated wheat production, total GHG was 620.8 kg CO2-eq t−1 and 2986.71 kg CO2-eq ha−1. The order of GHG from low to high in dryland wheat production was chemical fertilizers, machinery, and diesel fuels. In order to reduce the GHG and its environmental effect, efficient energy consumption is vital in wheat production.

Distribution, dynamics, and physiological races of wheat stem rust (Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici) on irrigated wheat in the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia

Wheat is one of the high-value major crops in the world. However, wheat stem rust is considered one of the determinant threats to wheat production in Ethiopia and the world. So this study was conducted to assess the disease intensity, seasonal distribution dynamics pattern, the genetic variability of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, and to determine the virulence spectrum in the irrigated ecology of the Awash River Basin. Totally 137 wheat farms were evaluated, from 2014/15–2019/20 in six districts representing the Upper, Middle, and Lower Awash River Basin. Farm plots were assessed, in every 5–10 km intervals, with ’X’ fashion, and data on disease incidence, severity, healthy plants were counted and recorded. Diseased samples were collected from the diseased wheat stem by Puccinia graminis physiological and genetic race analysis. The seasonal trend of stem rust disease progress showed its importance to infer the future progresses of the disease for the country’s potential production plan of irrigated wheat. The result revealed that the disease prevalence, disease incidence, and severity were significantly varied; among the different districts and seasons in the two regions. The survey results also indicated that about 71.7% of the wheat fields were affected by stem rust during the 2018/19 growing period. The disease’s overall incidence and mean severity during the same season were 49.02% and 29.27%, respectively. In 2019/20, about 63.7% of the wheat fields were affected by stem rust, disease incidence 30.97%, and severity 17.22% were lower than the previous season. In 2019/20, even though seasonal disease distribution decreased, the spatial distribution was expanding in Afambo and Dubti districts. Four, stem rust dominant races were identified (TTTTF, TKTTF TKKTF, and TTKTF) by physiological and genetic race analysis during 2018/19 and one additional race (TKPTF) in 2019/20, production year. The result indicated that the races are highly virulent and affect most Sr genes except Sr31 and Sr24. From the race analysis result, TTTTF, and TKKTF have the broadest virulence spectrum race, which affects 90% of the Sr genes. Generally, we can conclude that the spatial and seasonal distribution of the disease is expanding. Most of the races in the irrigated areas in the Basin were similar to that of rain-fed wheat production belts in Ethiopia, so care must be given, to effective management of the diseases, in both production ecologies towards controlling the spore pressure than race variability. Therefore, these findings provide inputs for wheat producers to reduce the spread and disease’ damage in the irrigated ecologies of Ethiopia. Also, it gives an insight for breeders to think about the breeding program in their crossing lines.