गेंहूं का बीज उत्‍पादन

The production of wheat crop for seed purpose requires almost similar agronomic operations as are used for grain crop production. However, seed production differs from normal grain production on the issues of isolation requirements, rouging and special attention in carrying operations of harvesting, threshing and storage.

Moreover, for seed production one has to follow the specific guidelines issued by the seed certification Agency for ensuring specific field and seed standards which include a) seed multiplication b) Isolation requirements c) Roguing and d) Field inspection.

Wheat Seed Multiplication:

To maintain the genetic purity of the seed, a generation system of seed production is followed. In wheat seed production, In India usually four to five generations are commonly used namely Breeder - Foundation I - Foundation II - Certified

Selection of seed plot:

• The seed plot should have good soil texture and fertility
• The plot selected for seed crop must be free from volunteer plants and weed plants.
• The seed plot shall be well leveled.
• The seed plot should have proper drainage.

Selection of variety:

Proper care should be taken in selecting a variety.

• An improved variety should be selected as per agro climatic conditions of the region.
• The variety selected should be high yielding.
• It should possess resistance to diseases prevalent in the area.

 Wheat Varieties recommended for chhattisgarh

 Seed treatment:

The seed used for sowing should have a good germination capacity and it should be healthy and free from seed borne diseases.

• The seed of loose smut-susceptible varieties should be given solar or hot water treatment.
• For the control of diseases like Bunts and Smuts, seed treatment is suggested with Vitavex, Bavistin, Thiram or Agrosan GN @ 2.5 gm per kg of seed
• To protect the crop from Termites and White Ants particularly in rainfed area, treat seed with either Chlorpyriphos 20 EC @ 7 ml/kg seed or Endosulphan 35EC @ 7 ml/kg of  seed followed by seed drying overnight before sowing.

Preparation of Land

Good land preparation helps in improved germination, good stand establishment and destruction of potential weeds. It also aids in water management and good uniform irrigation. One deep ploughing with soil turning plough followed by two harrowing and planking immediately before sowing produce a good, firm seedbed is desirable for timely cultivation and conservation of moisture.

wheat Seed rate and sowing:

Seed Rate गेंहूं की बीज दर

For seed production it is desirable to use lower seed rates than usual in order to obtain bold seeded and healthy crop.

Time of planting गेंहू बुआई समाय

The seed crops should invariably be sown at their normal planting time to obtain higher yields. 

Spacing गेंहू में दूरी

Crop for seed purpose should be preferably sown in rows. Row sowing is preferred because it facilitates rouging operations and inspection of seed crops and it is easy to control weeds

Depth of sowing गेंहूं बुआई की गहराई

Depth of sowing is extremely important in ensuring good plant stand. Seed should be placed 5-6 cm deep below the soil where sufficient soil moisture is available to enable germination. Deep sowing delays emergence, resulting in weak seedlings and poor yield.

Time of Sowing, Spacing & Seed Rate are as follows:

Isolation distance in wheat seed production

The seed crop must be isolated from other nearby fields of the same crops and the other contaminating crops as per requirement of the certification standards. To achieve this, a small strip of land between adjacent fields is left uncultivated or planted with other crops.

The objective of such isolation is to avoid contamination from the nearby field planted with same crops. Since wheat is a self pollinated crop, there is very low percentage of cross pollination. In India, an isolation distance of atleast 3 m is required to separate a wheat seed field from the same variety.

For seed production of loose smut susceptible varieties, an isolation distance of 150 m from other wheat seed fields having loosed smut in excess of 0.1 and 0.5 per cent for FS and CS, respectively.

Management practices:

Fertilizer Application गेंहू में खाद

The fertilizer application should normally be on the basis of soil test. In case the facility for soil testing is not available, fertilizer may be applied at the following rates

The Phosphatic and Potassic fertilizers should be applied as basal while Nitrogenous fertilizers should be applied as basal and top-dressing in split doses.

Micronutrients शुक्ष्‍म पोषक तत्‍व

The deficiency of Sulphur and Zinc (Zn) is visualized in some of the wheat growing areas of the state, particularly those managed under Rice-Wheat cropping system.

• The Sulphur deficiency can be managed by application of fertilizers like Super Phosphate or Ammonium Sulphate.
• In the most cases of Zn deficiency, application of 25 Kg Zinc Sulphate per ha is sufficient to meet the Zn demands

Irrigation management गेंहूं में सि‍चाई

For wheat sown under irrigated conditions, 4-6 irrigations are required. The 1st irrigation should be given at the crown-root initiation stage about 20-25 days after sowing. Other irrigation should be given at late tillering, late jointing and flowering, milk and dough stages.

Weed Management in wheat  गेंहूं में खरपतवार नि‍यंत्रण

Good weed control is the basic requirement in producing good quality seed. Weeds may cause contamination of the seed crop in addition to reduction in yield. Weeds can be controlled effectively by spray with herbicides.

 Rouging:

Adequate and timely rouging is extremely important in seed production. Rouging refers to removal of undesirable plants from the seed production plots. In rouging, plants differing in appearance (offtypes), other crop plants, noxious weeds, plants infected with diseases etc. are removed. In wheat, the crop should be rouged twice at heading and at maturity because off-types and other varieties of the same species are most easily identified.

Field Inspection:

Since wheat is a self pollinated crops, the seed crop is inspected twice; once at the flowering stage and once at maturity stage. The objective of field inspection is to ensure that specific standards for raising a seed crop have been met including isolation and to ensure relative freedom from harmful weed species, seeds of other distinguishable varieties and disease infected plants

Minimum field and seed standards

Plant protection:

For healthy seed crop, steps should be taken for control of diseases and insect pest at appropriate stages.

Diseases:

The most common diseases affecting the crop are rusts (yellow and brown), karnal bunt and loose smut. Yellow rusts of late has become a very serious problem in wheat growing areas and appropriate disease management is thus very important for successful seed production programme.

Harvesting, Threshing and Storage:

The crop is harvested when the grains become hard and the straw becomes yellow, dry and brittle. In India generally harvesting is done with sickle. However, in recent years in some states harvesting & threshing is done by combine harvester at a large scale. In general, the seed crop of nucleus and breeder seed is harvested and threshed manually in our seed production plots. The foundation and certified seed covering large areas is harvested using combine machines.

Proper care should be taken and following points should be taken into care while harvesting, threshing and storage of seed crop.

• Harvest the seed at proper stage.
• The varieties should be threshed separately.
• When using combines, the machines should be properly cleaned to avoid varietal admixture. When changing variety, first few bags needs to be discarded to avoid risk of contamination from other varieties.
• The seed should be thoroughly dried before storage to preserve seed viability and vigour. In India, the seed crop is subjected to sun drying for 3-4 days to reduce the moisture content to safe levels. Grains with less than 10% moisture store well.
• Always store the seed in new bags to avoid mixture.
• The storage pits, bins or godowns should be moisture proof and should be fumigated to keep down the attack of stored grain pests.

Authors:

 Nirmodh prabha, V.K. Soni, O.N. Verma and Harshvardhan 

Sant Kabir College of Agriculture & Research Station,

Kawardha, IGKV, Raipur

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