उत्तरी मैदानों और पहाड़ियों के लिए चारे वाली जौ फसल की नई किस्में।
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an ancient cereal grain, which upon domestication has evolved from food grain to a feed and malting grain. It is considered fourth largest cereal crop in the world, with a share of 7% of the global cereal production. Barley grains have higher soluble dietary fibre and lower low density lipoprotein (LDL) content and hence also recommended medicinally.
Barley is also a rich source of tocols, including tocopherols and tocotrienols, which are known to reduce serum LDL cholesterol through their antioxidant action. Barley is grown nearly by 100 countries worldwide and during 2011, the global area under the crop was nearly 48.60 million hectares with a production of 134.27 million tonnes.
In India, area under the crop is concentrated in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Bihar etc. in plains and Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir in the hills. During 2011-12, in India, barley occupied nearly 0.65 m ha area producing nearly 1.61 m tons grain, with a per hectare productivity of 24.8 q. This rise in production over last year was due to the availability of new high yielding, stable and disease resistant varieties with adoption of sustainable management and plant protection technologies.
During 51st All India Coordinated Wheat and Barley Worker’s Meet (AICW & BW) three new feed barley varieties i.e. RD 2786, RD 2794 and VLB 118 were identified for different agro-ecological conditions (Table 1).
Table 1. Identified feed barley varieties and their agro-ecological suitability
|
Identified variety |
Agro-ecological suitability |
|
RD 2786 |
Irrigated, timely sown conditions of central zone (Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jhansi division of UP, Kota and Udaipur divisions of Rajasthan). |
|
RD 2794 |
For alkaline/saline soils of NWPZ (Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Una district and Poanta valley of HP, Jammu and Kathua districts and Tarai regions of Uttrakhand)/NEPZ (Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal, Orissa and plains of north-eastern states) (Irrigated, timely sown conditions). |
|
VLB 118 |
Rainfed, timely sown conditions of Northern Hills Zone (Himachal Pradesh except Una district and Poanta valley, Jammu & Kashmir except Jammu and Kathua districts, Uttarakhand except Tarai region). |
Under coordinated varietal evaluation trials, RD 2786, RD 2794 and VLB 118 exhibited average grain yield of 50.20, 29.90 and 30.84 qtls/ha, respectively.
For grain yield the variety RD 2786 was 15.70 per cent higher over the central zone check variety PL 751, while the variety RD 2794 was at par with check variety RD 2552 and 3.46 per cent higher over the other check variety NDB 1173.
The variety VLB 118 exhibited yield superiority of 8.20 per cent over the northern hills check variety (rainfed) UPB 1008. Some important quantitative (average), morphological and grain characteristics of the varieties viz. RD 2786, RD 2794 and VLB 118 are given below (Table 2)
Table 2. Quantitative, morphological and grain characteristics of the three barley varieties.
|
Characters |
RD 2786 |
RD 2794 |
VLB 118 |
|
Morphological |
|
||
|
Row type |
six |
six |
six |
|
Husk/ huskless |
hulled |
hulled |
hulled |
|
Growth habit |
erect |
erect |
erect |
|
Coleoptiles |
non pigmented |
non pigmented |
non pigmented |
|
Auricles |
non pigmented |
non pigmented |
non pigmented |
|
Leaf width |
broad |
medium |
medium |
|
Peduncle |
non-waxy |
non-waxy |
non-waxy |
|
Quantitative (average) |
|
||
|
Days to heading |
66 |
85 |
119 |
|
Days to maturity |
111 |
121 |
164 |
|
Plant height (cm) |
96 |
69 |
75 |
|
Tillers/metre |
123 |
86 |
97 |
|
1000 grain weight (g) |
46 |
38 |
41 |
|
Grain yield (q/ha) |
50.20 |
29.90 |
30.84 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grain |
|
||
|
Size |
medium bold |
medium bold |
medium |
|
Shape |
obviate |
obviate |
elongated |
|
Texture |
Semi hard |
Semi hard |
Medium hard |
|
Colour |
yellow |
yellow |
yellow |
|
Aleurone colour |
amber |
amber |
yellow |
|
Crease width |
narrow |
narrow |
wide |
The varieties (RD 2786, RD 2794 and VLB 118) were found promising over the existing varieties after multi-locational and over the years evaluation. The production conditions, agronomic package of practices and plant protection measures of these varieties are given below (Table 3).
Table 3. Major agronomic packages and protection practices for feed barley
|
Land preparation |
Well drained, moderately fertile loam or light soil with plain topography and properly levelled. |
|
Seed treatment |
Raxil @1g/kg of seed or Bavistin/Vitavax @2g/kg of seed. |
|
Sowing Time |
10-25 November (for irrigated, timely sown conditions) 15 Oct.-10 November (for rainfed, timely sown conditions). |
|
Seed rate and sowing method |
100 kg/ha, sowing either manually after opening furrows or by drill with 23 cm row to row distances. |
|
Fertilizer Doses & time of fertilizer’s application |
60 kg N: 30 kg P2O5: 20 kg K2O (1/2 N and full dose of P and K as basal dose and remaining ½ N at the time of first irrigation as top dressing.). For rainfed conditions 40 kg N: 30 kg P2O5: 20 kg K2O as all basal doses. |
|
Weed Control |
Pendimethilin (Stomp 30 EC) 3333-4950 g/ha* in 400-500 litres of water 2-3 days after sowing or Isoproturon (Arelon 75 WP) 1333 g/ha* at 30-35 days after sowing using 400-500 litres of water or Pinaxaden (Axial 5 EC) 700-800 g/ha* at 30-35 days after sowing using 400-500 litres of water. *Product dose |
|
Major diseases and pest control |
Yellow and brown rust, loose and covered smut and leaf blight: one spray of Propiconazole 25EC (Tilt 25 EC) or Tebuconazole 250 EC (Folicur 250 EC) or Triademefon (Bayleton 25 WP) @ 200 ml of fungicide mixed with 200 litres of water should be sprayed in one acre crop. To control aphids apply Confidor (Imidacloprid 200 SL) @ 20g a.i./ha. |
|
Irrigation schedule |
First irrigation at active tillering (30-35 DAS), II at flag leaf stage (60-65 DAS) and III at the milking stage (80-85 DAS). |
|
Harvesting |
After proper maturity and before brittleness of spikes and shattering of grains nearly at 12-13% of moisture. |
Authors:
Vishnu Kumar, AS Kharub and Dinesh Kumar
author’s
Directorate of Wheat Research, Karnal-132001