ISLAMABAD: There is a new achievement as Beijing hybrid wheat
bumper harvest in Pakistan’s semi-arid climate, according to a reports.
“The year 2022 is the 10th year that Beijing hybrid wheat has entered
Pakistan’.
In 2021, the promotion of Beijing hybrid wheat in Pakistan made new
progress. We introduced a new experimental species, which can achieve a good
harvest in semi-arid conditions,” said Prof. Zhang Shengquan from Beijing
Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS).
BAAFS and Peshawar Agricultural University continued to carry out scientific
and technological cooperation in 2021, and new progress has been made in the
adaptation of Beijing hybrid wheat to Pakistan agriculture.
This would greatly alleviate Pakistan’s food crisis and meet the country’s
huge demand for wheat.
BAAFS studied the response of Beijing hybrid wheat in Pakistani climate
conditions, and screened out two hybrid wheat combinations that had
increased yield in Pakistan for four consecutive years and achieved high
resistance to rust disease, with the average yield increase of 37.8% and
24.3% in four consecutive years.
Besides, five other combinations were selected that increased production in
Pakistan for 3 consecutive years.
In addition to high yield and disease resistance, Beijing hybrid wheat also
passed the test of dry climate and delayed sowing in order to adapt to the
climate of Pakistan. In 2021, through further research, the project team
determined that the hybrid wheat could achieve higher biological and
economic yields than the conventional wheat varieties.
In a semi-arid climate with deficient irrigation, the hybrid wheat could
perform better than local varieties even if the sowing date was delayed.
According to the project, China and Pakistan have jointly evaluated
thousands of Beijing hybrid wheat varieties and identified some very good
varieties with high yield, disease resistance and drought resistance, with
yield potential of about 6000-8000 kg/ha, which is 122-196% higher than the
average yield of current common wheat in Pakistan.
In the future, the large-scale promotion of Beijing hybrid wheat will be
hoped to help greatly increase the wheat production level in Pakistan,
increase the income of the local residents, and eventually achieve domestic
self-sufficiency in wheat production.
The Pakistan’s relevant scientific research units and industrial enterprises
have done a lot of preparation for the promotion of Beijing hybrid wheat,
and the next three years will be the key period for the promotion. -Agencies
