Yield and Profit from New and Old Wheat Varieties Using Certified and Farmer-Saved Seeds
Author(s)
Krishna Dev Joshi1, Attiq Ur Rehman1, Ghulam Ullah1, Amanullah Baloch1, Makhdoom Hussain2, Javed Ahmad2, Mohammad Ishaq3, Gulzar Ahmad3, Nadeem Ahmad4, Syed Haider Abbas5, Maqsood Qamar5, Mumtaz Ahmad6, Abid Ilyas Dar6, Badar-uddin Khokhar7, Muhammad Sajid8, Akhlaq Hussain1 and Muhammad Imtiaz1
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DOI:10.17265/2161-6264/2016.03.001
Affiliation(s)
1. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
2. Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
3. Cereal Crops Research Institute, Nowshera 24100, Pakistan
4. Barani Agricultural Research Institute, Chakwal 48800, Pakistan
5. National Agriculture Research Centre, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
6. Engro Fertilizers Limited, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
7. Wheat Research Institute, Sakrand 67210, Pakistan
8. Pride Seed Company, Mardan 23200, Pakistan
ABSTRACT
Wheat is a strategic crop
for food security in Pakistan with predominance of smallholder farmers.
Farmer-saved seed (FSS) is used nearly by 75% of farmers for wheat production.
Frequent variety or seed replacement is uncommon even among large-scale
farmers, and certified seed (CS) is mostly bought to verify the value of new
varieties. Replacing old and obsolete varieties by new high yielding disease
resistant varieties is key to transferring new genetic gains to farmers. For
the first time in Pakistan, on-farm factorial experiments involving seven new
and five old wheat varieties and their corresponding CS and FSS were conducted.
A total of 49 farmers representing major wheat cropping patterns throughout the
country participated in these trials in the 2014 and 2015 wheat growing
seasons. Analysis of variance revealed that there was highly significant
difference between wheat varieties and between seed classes. New variety + CS
gave 33.8% more grain yield as well as higher
marginal return over farmers’ variety + FSS. Grain
yield and returns from new variety + FSS and farmers’ variety + CS were at par.
Scientific knowledge generated in this research demonstrated that use of CS of
new wheat varieties is best option, while growing new varieties with FSS is a second
choice for the advantages accruing from their built-in genetic traits of
economic importance over growing CS of old and obsolete varieties. Having more
flexible seed system will help accelerate the delivery of new genetic gains to
farmers’ fields.
KEYWORDS
Certified seed,
farmer-saved seed, variety and seed replacement, smallholder farmers, yield, return,
varietal popularization.
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