04 February 2024, Chandigarh: A new variety of wheat WH 1402 which requires two irrigation and moderate fertilizers has been developed by the Wheat and Barley section of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU). This variety has been identified for the northwestern plains of India, which includes the plains of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. B.R. Kamboj said, “Scientists of the wheat and barley section of the university have developed a new variety of wheat WH 1402. The average yield of this variety can be 50 quintals per hectare and the maximum yield can be 68 quintals per hectare in just two irrigations. He said that this variety is disease-resistant against yellow rust, brown rust, and other diseases. Also, this variety gives 7.5 percent more yield than NIAW 3170 and is a good variety for the less irrigated area.”
The Vice-Chancellor said that a new variety of wheat, WH 1402 has been developed at the national level for sandy, low fertile, and less irrigation facilities. To get the maximum yield of this variety, it is recommended to use pure nitrogen 90, phosphorus 60, potash 40, and zinc sulphate 25 kg per hectare. He said that farmers can get more produce in just two irrigations because groundwater is going down day by day due to over-exploitation. Ultimately, this new variety will prove to be a boon for areas with less water availability.
Dr. S.K. Pahuja, Dean, College of Agriculture said that the appropriate time for sowing this new wheat variety WH 1402 is from the last week of October to the first week of November and the quantity of seeds required for sowing is 100 kg per hectare. This variety requires two irrigations where the first irrigation is at 20-25 days after sowing at the time of emergence of apical roots and the second irrigation is required at the time of emergence of earrings after 80-85 days of sowing.
Dr. Pawan, in charge of wheat and barley section, said that the new variety of wheat, WH 1402 takes out ears of grain in 100 days and becomes ripe in 147 days. The earrings of this variety are long (14 cm) and red. The height of this variety is 100 cm, due to which the risk of falling is negligible. The grain of this variety is thick and contains 11.3 percent protein, hectoliter weight (77.7 kg/hl), iron (37.6 ppm), and zinc (37.8 ppm). Hence this variety is good in terms of nutritional value.
The team of scientists who developed this variety includes Dr. M.S. Dalal, OP Bishnoi, Vikram Singh, Divya Phogat, Yogendra Kumar, SK Pahuja, Somveer, RS Beniwal, Bhagat Singh, Renu Munjal, Priyanka, Pooja Gupta and Pawan Kumar.
It is worth mentioning that the University has developed and identified 44 varieties of different crops in the last 3 years.
