Heat won't impact most wheat varieties: Scientists

Parveen Arora

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Karnal, March 27

The dry spell due to sudden rise in temperature in March is causing anxiety among farmers, who apprehend that it would have an adverse effect on wheat production. They fear the size of the grain will get reduced.

“With the sudden rise in temperature, the dry spell has started around 15 days in advance. It is a worrisome situation for us as it will affect the growth of the grain which will ultimately reduce the yield. We expect a loss of around 5 quintal per acre due to this early dry spell,” said Joginder Singh Grak from Baldi village.

Vijay Kapoor, a progressive farmer, said that the dry spell is not only adversely affecting the yield, but will also bring the harvest earlier. The speed of wind is very high, making the grains dry. “We expect around 5-10 per cent loss in yield due to this sudden rise in temperature,” said Kapoor.

On the other hand, the scientists of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) here opine that the dry spell would not have any major adverse effect on wheat, except minor effect on late-sown varieties.

“No doubt the dry spell is little in advance. There is very less possibility of adverse effect on the wheat crop as the temperature in night is still low. The dry spell will make the harvesting early,” said Dr GP Singh, Director, IIWBR.

“There could be little effect on the late-sown varieties, but that will also be minor,” said the director. He advised the farmers to irrigate the late-sown varieties to reduce the effect.

The director said that most of the varieties, sown by the farmers in the region, are heat-tolerant. “Most of the varieties sown by the farmers like DBW-187, 303, 3086 in major areas are heat-tolerant, reducing the possibility of major effect on wheat during the early dry spell,” he said.