WHEAT CROP

v Scientific name= Triticum aestivum L

v Origin= South-west Asia.

v Area Distribution=

· In all over world:

China, India, Russian federation, USA, France, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, Australia, Turkey.

· In India:

UP, Punjab, Haryana, MP, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal and West Bengal.

v Species:

a) Common wheat (T. aestivm):

· most suited for chapati and bakery and is cultivated throughout India.

b) Durm wheat (T. durum):

· best suited for noodles, vermicelli and it is cultivated in central and southern India.

c) Emmer wheat (T. dicoccum)

· Thise wheat is suitable for TN and Preferred foe granular preparation.

v Varieties:

· Karan Narendra (DBW22)

· Karab Vandana (DBW187)

· DDW47-Durum

· DBW252, DBW173 etc.

Information source: Varieties of Wheat – ICAR- IIWBR

v Economic Importance=

· Wheat is the worlds number one cereal in area.

· Cultivation of wheat is as old civilization.

· It is the first mentioned crop in Bible.

· Wheat is eaten in various forms by more than 1000 million people in the world.

· In India, it is second important staple food crop next to rice. In areas wheat is staple cereal food; it is eaten in the form of ‘chapattis.

· In areas where rice is the staple cereal food, wheat is eaten in the form of ‘puris’ or in the form of ‘upma’ (cooked from ‘suji’ or ‘rawa’).

· In addition to this, wheat is also consumed in various other preparations such as ‘Dalia’, ‘halwa’, ‘sweet meals’, etc.

· In most of the urban areas of the country, the use of backed leavened bread, flakes, cakes, biscuits, etc. is increasing at a fast rate.

· Besides staple food to human, wheat straw is a good source of feed for a large population of cattle in the country.

v Cultivation Practices:

A. Soil Requirement =

· Alluvial Soil.

· Texture: Clay and Loamy / Loamy soil

B. P.H.= 6.0-7.0

C. Climatic requirement:

· Temperature:

a) Optimum temp.= 20-25 degree.

b) Optimum germination temp.= 20-23 degree.

c) Optimum vegetative growth temp.= 20-23 degree.

d) Optimum reproductive / grain filing temp.= 23-25 degree.

· Rain fall: 50-100cm during the growing season.

· Relative humidity: 50-60%

D. Sowing time:

· Ideal sowing time is 15^th October to 1^st week of November.

· Sowing must be completed within the first fot night of November.

E. Spacing:

· Spacing should be maintain at the time of sowing.

· The distant between row to row 15-20 cm and plant to plant distance 5 cm.

F. Seed rate:

· For timely sowing:100-125kg/hectare.

· For late sowing: 125-150kg/hectare.

G. Seed treatment:

· Before sowing seed can be trat with Vitabax or Thiram @3 g/kg of seed before sowing.

H. Field Preparation:

They are many field preparation practices used in field preparation. They are following:

Field sanitation:

· Remove all the weeds and remove all plant debris before tillage.

· After removing plant debris and weed apply solarization application.

Tillage practices:

· Apply best optimum tillage practices. In primary tillage practices use mould board or disc plough to deep plough the soil.

· In secondary tillage practices 2 to 3 harrowing with disc or tines. At least 2-3 planking is necessary.

e) Irrigation Practices:

· Irrigation is an important step for cultivation of wheat.

· They many times irrigation provide in the field area during different plant growth stage and time. They are following:

Irrigation	Days after sowing	Stage
1^st irrigation	20-25 days	Crown root-initiation stage.
2^nd irrigation	40-45 days	Tillering stage
3^rd irrigation	70-75 days	Late jointing stage
4^th irrigation	90-95 days	Flowering stage
5^th irrigation	110-115 days	Dough stage

· The most critical stage of the irrigation is crown root initation stage.

I. Weed management:

o In wheat crop the weed management is very important for the controlling the loses of soil nutrition loses.

o In weed management remove all unwanted plants present in the field area.

o They are many methods to controlling the weed growth. They are following.

1) Hand weeding method:

· In this type of weed management weeds can de remove with the help of hand.

· It is very effective method but it is very time-consuming method.

· It is very costly method because large number of labours can be involving this method.

2) Chemical method:

Chemical weed control of wheat can be done in the following manner:

Broad leaf weeds control:

· 2-4D@0.5-1.0Kg/ha. is applied 25-30 days after sowing.

· Terbutryn@0.75-1.0Kg/ha are apply in the filed area. It is more potent than 2,4D on broad leaf weeds.

· Fluroxypur@0.2-0.6Kg/ha are apply in the filed area. It is a good alternative to 2,4-D for broad leaf weeds in winter season. The lower dose are use at 15 days after sowing and higher rate up to 40 days after sowing.

Narrow leaf weeds control:

· Isoproturon@0.75-1.25Kg/ha are applied in filed 20-30 days after sowing.

· Methabenzthiazuron@0.75-1.25kg/ha or Metoxuron@1.2-1.6kg/ha are two herbicides can be used for pre and post emergence treatment.

J. Manure and Fertilizer:

· FYM= 12.5kg/ha are spread.

· N.P.K.= 80:40:40 kg/ha.

· Apply half of N and full dose of P2O5 AND K2O basally sowing and incorporate in the in the sowing

K. Harvesting:

· Check the moisture content of the grain, It should be around 12.5-15% for harvesting.

· Cut the wheat stalks with a scythe, sickle or machete.

· Pile the cut stalks on to a blanket or tarp.

· Thresh the wheat heads by running them through your hands or using a machine to separate the grain from the chaff.