Introduction and seed production of new winter wheat and barley varieties in Sugd, Tajikistan

Abstract

Wheat is the most important crop in the Sugd Province of Tajikistan which falls within the Fergana Valley Action Site of CRP-DS in Central Asia. Yellow rust is the most important wheat disease in Sugd province of Tajikistan which is controlled by fungicide application every year because all wheat varieties grown by the farmers in the Action Site are susceptible to yellow rust. Application of fungicide increases the cost of wheat production, and is harmful to human health and environment. Tajik wheat improvement program in collaboration with ICARDA, CIMMYT and the International Winter Wheat Program has released a few yellow rust resistant winter wheat varieties. Informal and formal discussion with the farmers and district agricultural offices it was found that there was no information available to the farmers about the yellow rust resistant winter wheat varieties available in other parts of Tajikistan. Further to that there was not enough seed of the yellow rust resistant varieties (Alex and Ormon) available in other parts of the country which could be brought to allow the farmers in Sugd province grow those varieties. Besides, farmers were not sure if the new varieties would be suitable for their farming conditions. Hence an adaptive study was undertaken to plant a number of farmers’ field with Alex and Ormon wheat varieties and compare their performance with the widely grown local variety Krasnodar-99. The farmers were also asked not to spray the two new varieties with fungicide because they were resistant to yellow rust in other parts of Tajikistan.