National Wheat Research Program

Introduction

National Wheat Research Program (NWRP) was established in 1972 AD at Khumaltar, Lalitpur under the name of National Wheat Development Program. In 1975 AD, it was transferred to Bhairahawa Agricultural Farm, which was established in 1960 AD. Geographically, the station is located at 105 meters above sea level and 27°32’ north latitude and 83°25’ east longitude. It is 300 km west of capital city Kathamandu and 21 km east of Lumbini “The Birthplace of Lord Buddha”.

The climate at NWRP is subtropical. The recorded maximum temperature in summer is 44.6°C and minimum temperature in winter is 4.8°C. The average annual rain fall is 1700 mm, with maximum and minimum mean temperature of June and January is 30.8 0C and 14.7 0C respectively. NWRP station has a total of 35 hectares of land area out of which 25 hectares are utilized for wheat research and production activities and rest 10 hectares are occupied by farm roads drainage, office and residence facilities.

In Nepal, wheat crop was a minor cereal until early 1960s’ and now it is the third most important staple food crop of Nepal. Wheat is grown in 791,573 ha with total production of 1,942,870 mt and the productivity is 2,454 Kg/ha. It occupies 23% of total cereal area and contributes 22.5% of the total cereal production in the country (MoAD, 2012/13). Wheat is widely adapted with its coverage in all the three agro-climatic regions of the country, ranging from sea level to 4000 masl. Terai shares 55.09% of wheat area and contributes 61.5% to total wheat production. Similarly, hill and mountain shares 37.57% and 7.3% of wheat area and contributes 33% and 5.5% to total wheat production, respectively.

Mission

Enhance food security and contribute to alleviate poverty through increased productivity and profitable wheat production on economically sustainable basis on different agro eco zones of Nepal.

Vision

Adaptable and sustainable wheat production technologies and development of high yielding, biotic and abiotic tolerant wheat varieties for wheat growers of Nepal in collaboration with related national and international organizations

Objectives

  • Develop, implement, coordinate and monitor multi-locations and multi-disciplinary adaptive research for developing superior varieties resistant/tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses for different domains of Nepal.
  • Collect, evaluate, maintain and explore suitable donors for different biotic and abiotic stresses and quality traits
  • Develop appropriate wheat crop production technologies for optimal use of resources in a sustainable manner
  • Produce nucleus seed, produce/coordinate breeder seeds of popular wheat varieties and foundation seed of rice varieties in required quantity
  • Carryout off-season (shuttle) breeding work for rapid generation advancement at suitable hill site
  • Monitor the major wheat diseases/ pests and develop strategies to mitigate crop losses due to diseases/pests and
  • Establish national and international linkages for strengthening wheat improvement research in the country.

Expected Outcomes

  • High yielding, disease/ pest resistant, acceptable grain size/colour and nutritional quality of wheat varieties will be released for different domains of Nepal
  • Donor parent for terminal heat stress will be identified.
  • Additional genetic variability for high yield and for other desirable traits will be developed and rust resistant genotypes of wheat will be identified
  • Low cost and eco-friendly technology for management of foliar blight will be identified
  • Develop insect calendar for pest forecasting in future
  • Appropriate technologies for the judicious use of organic manures and inorganic fertilizers for sustainable crop production (rice-rice-wheat system) will be developed
  • appropriate nitrogen level and date of sowing will be identifies for wheat under different agro-ecological zones of Nepal
  • Recommended dose of N, P, K, B and Zn for wheat in the research sites will be identified.
  • Twenty four tons of wheat Breeder Seed and 37.5 tons of rice Foundation Seed will be produced in FY 2072/73.
  • Different publications on successful wheat production technologies will be published.
  • Newly released and promising wheat genotypes will be popularized to the farmers
  • Appropriate method of crop residual management along with appropriate weed management practice will be identified.
  • Physio-chemical properties of soil for crop yield on crop residues and nitrogen levels will be identified.
  • Suitable dose of nutrient to suppress stem borer incidence in R-W system identified
  • Appropriate herbicides, competitive varieties, weed management methods and optimum seed rate will be identified for wheat crops under irrigated condition.
  • The optimum dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for the economic production of wheat and rice for different soil test level under rice-wheat cropping system will be determined.

Activities

i) Varietal improvement

  • Development of wheat varieties suitable for different agro-ecological domains (Terai under irrigated normal planting, irrigated late planting, tolerant to terminal heat stress, rainfed conditions and mid/high hills environment) of Nepal.
  • Development of product specific wheat varieties required by various wheat based industries.

ii) Resource management:

  • Development of improved wheat production technologies (Irrigation and fertilizer management, time and method of crop establishment, weed management etc.) suitable for different agro-climatic conditions
  • Identification of farmers’ problems through on-site inspection of farmers’ fields and solving them through adaptive research
  • Scaling up of resource conservation technologies (RCTs) to farming communities through pluralistic approach.

iii) Research on crop protection

  • Development of high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties.
  • Detection of major diseases and insects on wheat, estimation of their damage, identification and development of insects and disease resistant wheat varieties and disease management techniques.
  • Development of low cost and eco-friendly diseases management technology.

iv) Outreach research activities

  • On-farm verification of station developed technologies through farmers’ field testing and mini-kit distribution of recently released and pre-release wheat varieties and other technologies under farmers’ situations.
  • Provide farmers with technical knowledge through different media.

v) Source Seed production

  • Produce wheat nucleus and breeder seeds as per need
  • Provide breeder seed to different farms /stations, seed companies for foundation seed production and supervise them
  • Assist and provide technical advice to stakeholders in seed multiplication program.

vi) Wheat germplasm exchange

Wheat germplasm exchange with different (CIMMYT, ICARDA, DWR- India, WRC-Bangladesh, etc.) national and international agencies

Researchers

  • Dr. Roshan Basnet, Senior Scientist (S-4)/Coordinator
  • Mr. Deepak Pandey, Senior Scientist (S-4)
  • Mrs. Pratima Pandey, Scientist (S-1)
  • Mrs. Vinita Sharma, Scientist (S-1)
  • Mr. Bisheshor Pandey, Scientist (S-1)
  • Mr. Narayan Khatri, Scientist (S-1)
  • Mr. Shiva Rattan Kumar Gupt, Scientist (S-1)
  • Mr. Gauri Yadav, Technical Officer (T-7)
  • Mr. Rajendra Prasad Yadav, Technical Officer (T-6)
  • Mr. Rajendra Poudel, Technical Officer (T-6)
  • Mr. Govinda Poudel, Technical Officer (T-6)
  • Mr. Athar Hussain Khan, Technical Officer (T-6)
  • Mr. Khem Raj Pant, Technical Officer (T-6)
  • Ms. Sadhana Paudel, Technical Officer (T-6)
  • Ms. Sujata KC, Technical Officer (T-6)

Contact Address

Nepal Agricultural Research Council
National Wheat Research Program
Bhairahawa, Rupandehi
Phone: +977-71-421024, 421007
Fax: +977-71-421022
E-mail: nwrp.bhairahawa@gmail.com
Website: www.narc.gov.np