ICAR develops wheat that can beat the heat

Source: The post is based on the article “ICAR develops wheat that can beat the heat” published in Indian Express on 23rd February 2023

What is the News?

ICAR’s Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI) has developed three varieties of wheat.

What are the three varieties of wheat developed by IARI?

HDCSW-18: It was officially notified in 2016.It has a potential wheat yield of over 7 tonnes per hectare – as against 6-6.5 tonnes for existing popular varieties. Being tall, compared to 90-95 cm for normal high-yielding varieties, made them prone to lodging or bending over when their ear heads were heavy with well-filled grains.

HD-3410: It was released in 2022.It has higher yield potential (7.5 tonnes/hectare) with lower plant height (100-105 cm).

HD-3385: It looks the most promising.It has the same yields as HD-3410.But it is the least lodging-prone and most amenable for early sowing.

IARI has registered HD-3385 with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA) and has also licensed the variety to the DCM Shriram Ltd-owned Bioseed for undertaking multi-location trials and seed multiplication.

What are the benefits of developing these new wheat varieties by IARI?

Firstly, involving the private sector in commercialisation of publicly-bred crop varieties will benefit farmers through faster adoption and diffusion of technology.

Secondly, it is also beneficial for ICAR because our institutes will earn royalty on every kg of seed sold by the licensee, which they can plough back into research.

Thirdly, the country also gains through higher production from climate-smart varieties.