Performance of wheat crop in Punjab: A case study of Amritsar district

Inspite of diversification efforts made in Punjab as well as in the district Amritsar, trend in cropped area shows continue dominance of paddy wheat rotation. The study revealed that 87 per cent of the net cropped area was under wheat crop in district Amritsar. The average yield of different varieties during the study period observed from 34.1 to 52.3 q per ha. The record average wheat yield 49.5 q per ha was achieved in the district during 2011–12. PBW 343 (77.68 percent area and 44.2 q per ha yield in 2007–08) and HD 2967 (65.85 percent area and 50.3 q per ha yield in 2013–14) were predominantly adopted varieties in Amritsar district. At present there is increasing trend of adoption under HD 2967 which indicating that area under it may further increase in future. Therefore, PBW 621 for timely sown and PBW 590 for late sown conditions can be promoted to maintain a significant area under other recommended varieties. Some non recommended varieties grown in the district may have possibility of their susceptibility for insect pest and diseases therefore they can deteriorate the recommended varieties through prolong exposures. The average per hectare gross return and returns over variable cost for the wheat crop in district Amritsar on sample farms during 2007–08 were `47990 and `29934, respectively which increased to `80520 and `51055, respectively in 2013–14.