PARTICIPATORY VARIETY SELECTION FOR SELECTING AND DISSEMINATING FARMERS-PREFERRED WHEAT VARIETIES
Date
2007-06
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR.
Abstract
Participatory Variety Selection research was conducted at the Wheat Research Centre,
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Nashipur, Dinajpur and 5 farmers’ fields of
Dinajpur and Thakurgaon districts. Five varieties including widely grown check variety
Kanchan and three advance lines selected according to the needs of farmers of the study areas
were tested in Mother trials at on-station and farmers’ fields and Baby trials at farmers’
fields. Dissemination of new wheat varieties was carried out through seed supply, focus
group discussion and frequent interactions. The results of Mother trials at on-station and
farmers’ fields indicated that, the new varieties: Bijoy and Prodip and advance lines: BAW
1035, BAW 1059 and BAW 1064 produced significantly higher yields than the check variety
Kanchan. These entries had significantly higher 1000-grain weights and matured earlier than
Kanchan. The advance lines performed better in farmers’ fields than research station. The
data of Baby trials were in strong agreement with that of Mother trials, but Baby trials were
less costly and easier to conduct. Farmers more preferred BAW 1059 and BAW 1064 than
Kanchan for Chapati qualities. Shatabdi was the most stable and Bijoy was the most sensitive
genotype to changing production environments. BAW 1064 was also stable. Its yield was the
highest in poor growing conditions and good in all conditions. Thirty farmers of the study
villages produced 5120 kg seeds of Sourav, Shatabdi, Bijoy and Prodip. Twenty seven
farmers preserved 2570 kg seeds for their own use and distributed 2550 kg to 60 new
farmers. So, seeds of 4 new varieties were reached to 87 wheat farmers of two working
villages in 2006. The seeds of these varieties were sown in 2006-07; as a result, yield and
varietal diversity were increased in the study villages. Participatory Variety Selection
research was found more effective in selecting farmers’ preferred varieties and disseminating
new varieties than conventional plant breeding. Institutionalization and widespread adoption
of this new plant breeding approach will increase wheat yield in the country and reduce
import cost.
Description
Wheat is one of the first domesticated food crops and for 8000 years has been the
basic staple food of the major civilization of Europe, West-Asia and North Africa.
Today, wheat is grown on larger acreage than any other commercial crops and
continuously to be the most important food grain source for human being. Its area
leads all the crops, including rice, maize and potato. Wheat is widely adapted crop as
it is grown from temperate, irrigated to dry and high-rainfall areas and from warm,
humid to dry, cold environments. Undoubtedly, this wide adaptation has been possible
due to evolution of some complex loci in its genome, which provides great plasticity
to the crop. Wheat is a C; plant and as such it thrives in cool environments (Acevedo,
1991). The average optimum growing temperature of spring wheat is about 25°C with
minimum and maximum growth temperature of 3° to 4°C and 30° to 32°C,
respectively (Briggle, 1980).
Keywords
Participatory Variety Selection in increasing selection efficiency, Identification of farmers’ need in their wheat varieties, Identification of farmers’ need in their wheat varieties