Beijin
g hybrid wheat had bumper harvest in Pa
kistan’s semi-arid climate, according to a report published by Gwadar Pro on Monday.
“The year 2022 is the 10th year that Beijin
g hybrid wheat has entered Pa
kistan.
In 2021, the promotion of Beijin
g hybrid wheat in Pa
kistan 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), while talking to Gwadar Pro.
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 Beijin
g hybrid wheat to Pa
kistan agriculture.
This would greatly alleviate Pa
kistan’s food crisis and meet the country’s huge demand for wheat.
BAAFS studied the response of Beijin
g hybrid wheat in Pa
kistani climate conditions, and screened out two hybrid wheat combinations that had increased yield in Pakista
n 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 Pakista
n for 3 consecutive years.
In addition to high yield and disease resistance, Beijin
g hybrid wheat also passed the test of dry climate and delayed sowing in
order to adapt to the climate of Pa
kistan. In 2021, through further research, the pr
oject 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 Pa
kistan have jointly evaluated thousands of Beijin
g 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 Pa
kistan.
In the future, the large-scale promotion of Beijin
g hybrid wheat will be hoped to help greatly increase the wheat production level in Pa
kistan, increase the income of the local residents, and eventually achieve domestic self-sufficiency in wheat production.
The Pa
kistan’s relevant scientific research units and industrial enterprises have done a lot of preparatio
n for the promotion of Beijin
g hybrid wheat, and the next three years will be the key period for the promotion.
