The University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, has developed two varieties of wheat — UAS-304 and UAS 428 — for making bread. While one is resistant to the deadly Ug99 disease, the other can help combat malnutrition. The two wheat varieties have been selected for notification by the Central Subcommittee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops, which comes under the Central Seed Committee, Ministry of Agriculture. Seed production could commence thereafter, UAS V-C R R Hanchinal said.
He informed that the tests had shown that the UAS-304 was effective against Ug99, a fungal disease that devastated the wheat crop in East Africa, Yemen, Iran and Iraq. “This disease is on the threshold of reaching India, having already reached Afghanistan,” he said. Tests on the UAS-428 have confirmed its high-yielding capacity and suitability in combating malnutrition.
Shreenivas A Desai, senior scientist (genetics and plant breeding), UAS, Dharwad, said, “The UAS-304 had been tested in the agriculture laboratories in Kenya and were found to be effective against the deadly fungus. The disease, which originated in Uganda in 1999, belongs to a race of black stem rust, which results in major crop loss, said senior scientist (Genetics and Plant Breeding) Shrinivas Desai. The UAS-304 was one of the 22 varieties of wheat recognised by the Karnal-based Directorate of Wheat Research for having the ability to combat the Ug99 disease and has been recommended for the peninsular region in India. This variety has the added advantage of being rich in micronutrients such as zinc, copper and iron. It has also exhibited average yields of 46.8 quintals per hectare which was higher than the existing varieties in the peninsular zone such as RAJ-4037 (43.9 quintalôha) and NIAW-917 (44.5q/ha). Though the yield was more in the variety MACS-6222 (47.1 q/ha), this variety has no resistance against Ug99.
Another durum wheat variety, UAS-428, had been identified by the Central Varietal Identification Committee at the All-India Wheat Research Workers’ Workshop at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi recently.
This variety yielded 47.9 quintals per ha, which was 14 per cent higher than the yield from the existing durum wheat varieties in the peninsular zone. It has shown better adaptability to variations in sowing periods, apart from resistance to the prevailing rust races (brown and black) and spot blotch leaf disease.
This variety too was resistant to Ug99.
