“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,” Prof. Zhang Shengquan from Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS), told 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 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.
