Training of frontline extension workers

A training of field assistants of Agri. Ext. was held at Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad on 17^th December, 2011. Twenty five field assistants from different districts of Punjab participated the training.
Wheat crop planting and adoption of CA technologies came under discussion. Participants individually gave an overview of the situation in their working area. It is interesting to note that farmers are well aware of importance of laser land leveling in most parts of the province and relay wheat planting is spreading in cotton zone. While addressing the participants, Rana Farman Ali explained the role of CA practices to ensure timely planting, reducing cost of production, adding input efficiency and fighting rising heat and drought. LLL, 0-til and bed planting, DSR, relay wheat planting in cotton and ZT cotton planting were discussed in detail with the help of pictorial support. He urged the participants to translate the CA message in the farmer field. Multifunction CSISA planter (ZTBP) was liked by the participants. The participants also expressed their experiences/opinions about the CA technologies.

Rana Farman Ali addressing the participants

Participants of training

Training of graduating female students of UAF

Female students graduating from UAF were trained at CSISA, Pakistan office/ field in conservation agriculture. The total umber of students was 260 and they were trained in groups comprising 40 to 60 students each. The training started from 24^th November and continued until 14^th December, 2011. The trainees came from various backgrounds – agronomy, plant breeding and genetics, entomology, horticulture, plant pathology, soil science, environment and resource economics, biotechnology, animal sciences, home economics, food sciences, extension, forestry, Agri. economics, marketing, DVM and agriculture engineering. Dr. M. Aqil Khan and Rana Farman Ali imparted the training assisted by other CSISA staff. The training included both classroom instructions and field visits. Students were apprised of conservation agriculture, its needs and compulsions. The training covered the background situation created by the changing climatic scenario which is expected to exacerbate further in future. This together with rising food needs due to fast expanding population would seriously effect food situation in the country. The role of conservation in arresting deteriorating effects of climate and promoting cheap, simple and effective agriculture was discussed in length. Individual CA practices were separately explained. Various tools available at CSISA sites were also shown. A leaflet explaining the features and providing links to these tools was also provided to the trainees. Students were impressed and declared these presentations as wonderful, educative and something they were not exposed previously.

Dr. M. Aqil Khan addressing the participants 

Participants

Participants

ZT wheat field visit

Farmer training at Renala Khurd, Okara

A farmer training was held at Renala Khurd, Okara on 3^rd December, 2011. Executive District Officer (Agriculture), Okara chaired the session. One hundred farmers, 30 extensionists including District Officer (Agri. Ext.), Okara, 20 Agri. graduate students and two private sector representatives participated the training. While addressing the participants Dr. M. Aqil Khan emphasized on importance of timely wheat planting to have better yield. He highlighted the changing climatic scenario, increasing population pressure, receding water availability for agriculture and high cost of inputs as compelling factors to move from present day agriculture to CA based options. Cost saving and timely planting aspect of 0 til planting and relay cropping, water and input use efficiency aspect of bed planting and intercropping was elaborated with the aid of flaxy charts. Advantages of DSR in terms of labour and water saving were also explained to the participants. LLL is well adopted by the farmers of the area. ZT cotton planting experiences of CSISA, Pakistan were also shared with the participants.

Participants of training

Dr. M. Aqil Khan addressing the participants

0 til push from unlikely quarter

Naseer is a cop in Punjab Police and does farming on 21 acres in chak No. 172 G/B Shajwal (31.15933N, 73.15823E) about 40 km from Faisalabad. He bought CSISA planter last year but was hesitant to undertake 0 til or bed planting in the face of risk involved in new technology. CSISA, Pakistan staff prompted him and he undertook 4 acres of 0 til planting when neighbors were laughing and ridiculing his undertaking. However the germination was so good, a number of other farmers fell on 0 til and he is still meeting the demands of neighbors. From one farmer of 4 acres zero til has expanded to twelve farmers and 45 acres. In the process Naseer has recovered the cost of his drill doing custom work. In the neighboring village another enterprising farmer Malik M. Wakil (31.14453N, 73.18142E) has even gone further undertaking 72 acres of his personal wheat cultivation with 0 til planter and helping other farmers also.

Naseer in his ZT field

Training of frontline extension workers

A training of field assistants, front line extension workers, was held at Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad on 29^th November, 2011. Twenty one FAs from different parts of Punjab participated the training. These participants represented ecological regions – rice wheat, wheat-cotton and mix cropping of Punjab. Wheat crop planting and adoption of CA technologies came under discussion. Participants individually apprised of the situation in their area. From the discussion it was obvious that laser land leveling is well entrenched and relay wheat planting is spreading in cotton zone. Dr. M. Aqil Khan gave the participants a detail account of various CA technologies. Explaining the likely future scenario the role of CA practices was individually discussed in promoting timely planting, reducing cost of production, adding input efficiency and fighting rising heat and drought. Besides laser land leveling, 0-til, bed planting and DSR etc, ZT planting of cotton was also discussed. The participants learned the details of these practices and expressed their experiences/opinions about the CA technologies. The graphic presentation insisted the real time interest. 

Dr. M. Aqil Khan addressing the participants

Participants of training

APHID DYNAMICS IN WHEAT AS AFFECTED BY WEATHER AND PLANTING TIME

Z.Sikandar, M.Aqil Khan, M.Saleem, Mumtaz Hussain and Naeem Ahmad

Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad

ABSTARACT

Aphid infestation is assuming an alarming position in wheat. A study was initiated to understand the dynamics of aphid infestation as affected by weather and crop planting time. Daily aphid count was taken in the field by placing yellow water trays at appropriate places in the wheat fields starting 1^st January in 2004 and 2005. In 2004-05 natural aphid infestation was also recorded in six wheat varieties planted at 15 days interval from Oct. 25, 2004 to Jan. 10, 2005. Aphid count was low in January due to cold but started increasing in February both years. It touched the peak in mid March and thereafter dropped. The infestation was high in 2004 but considerably low in 2005 due to high rains. Apparently, weather, other than rains and cold had little effect on aphid infestation. In 2004 and 2005 both years despite considerable temperature difference the pattern of aphid infestation was same. Infestation kept increasing till mid March and started declining. Planting time similarly had no pronounced effect on pattern of appearance of aphid. In all six plantings, the aphid infestation continued peaking and dropped after mid March. Early planting in November had, however, markedly low infestation but the infestation was progressively higher in later planting except the last where the infestation was low due to rising temperatures.

INTRODUCTION

Wheat aphids has assumed scary proportions in wheat cultivation in the Pakistan for the last few years. Hashmi et al (8) found four species of aphid damaging the wheat crop (viz; Sitobion avenae (F.) Schizaphis graminum Round), Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominalis (Sasaki) and  Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch). Anonymous (1) reported that Macrosiphum granarium (F.) is a major species causing 100% losses in grains production in sever attack. Most of the worker observed that maximum aphid population during February to March (2,3,4,5,6). Stufkens and Ferrel (9) reported that production of winged aphids on forage, oats and colonization was apparently reduced by cool winter weather. Acreman and Dixon (7) from U.K. reported that growing early maturing varieties could reduce aphid attack. Aheer et al (2) concluded that wheat sowing at various dates played an important role in increasing or decreasing aphid population. They observed that the crop sown not later than November 25 gave highest yield and the lowest aphid population.

The present studies were under taken to determine the role of abiotic factors in fluctuating the alate aphids density in wheat by using yellow water traps as well as to find out best sowing time of wheat crop in order to escape from the attach of aphids.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A.     Studies were carried out for two years during 2003-04 to 2004-05 at Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad. The collection of aphid was by using three trays each measuring 59 x 46 x 75 cm, painted with yellow color inside. These trays were placed at three spots, two and half feet (75 cm) above the ground level on wooden stands at a distance of 100 feet from each other. Data on alate aphids trapped in trays were recorded daily from 9-11 a.m. from each spot. Weather data, i.e., maximum and minimum temperature, R.H %, rainfall and wind velocity of the coinciding dates were also collected from the meteorological observatory of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad and correlated with aphid density for each year. The data was analyzed and presented in Table 1 and 2.

B. The experiment was carried out to study the effect of sowing times, on the incidence of aphid population. The wheat crop was sown on six different dates, i.e. October 25, November 10, 25, December 10, 25, 2004 and January 10, 2005 at Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad in randomized complete block design with replications, having plot size of 5 x 1.62 sq. m. and the variety sown was Inqilab-91. The data regarding aphid population were recorded by observing 10 randomly selected tillers from each plot at eight days interval starting February 16 to March 28, 2005. The selected tillers were clipped off with the help of pair of scissors. The numbers of aphids on each tiller were counted by dropping them on a white paper sheet with the help of a camel’s hair brush. The data was analyzed and presented in Table 3.

Table 1.  Average population of wheat aphid per tray and weather data of coinciding dates.

Month	Week	Temperature 0C		Relative Humidity %	Rainfall (mm)	Wind velocity (km/hour)	Aphid pop. (per day/per tray)
		Maximum	Minimum
2004
January	1	17.78	4.73	69.18	0.00	1.50	3.89
	2	23.35	7.35	57.28	0.00	1.69	3.71
	3	18.56	9.32	81.37	11.90	1.87	3.29
	4	16.83	6.55	81.37	11.90	1.87	3.29
February	1	18.45	4.38	67.87	0.00	2.57	1.46
	2	22.30	8.06	63.30	10.00	2.50	5.05
	3	25.45	10.38	66.21	0.00	2.57	52.09
	4	29.09	12.12	58.92	0.00	3.00	125.90
March	1	30.11	11.33	55.05	0.00	2.57	179.88
	2	32.65	16.66	53.50	0.00	1.94	1821.90
	3	38.92	17.72	43.19	0.00	2.78	12.96
2005
January	1	18.12	5.87	76.71	6.8	1.64	0.43
	2	20.47	4.32	71.62	0.00	1.37	1.79
	3	17.14	3.66	73.37	2.60	2.12	2.04
	4	16.64	3.74	73.88	7.40	1.14	8.24
February	1	18.81	7.10	70.78	9.40	1.14	8.24
	2	15.72	10.10	83.64	19.60	1.78	10.05
	3	16.91	6.04	69.14	14.50	2.64	7.67
	4	20.20	8.30	61.78	0.00	1.36	24.33
March	1	25.27	12.92	69.93	2.0	1.57	104.33
	2	27.13	12.78	68.06	28.50	1.37	322.83
	3	25.70	7.48	72.57	40.0	2.87	144.45
	4	28.29	14.36	48.31	0.00	2.12	20.63

Figure 1: Aphid dynamics in relation to temperatures 2004 & 2005

Table 2. Correlation coefficients between aphid and weather factors in wheat.

Year	Temperature (0C)		Relative humidity (%)	Rainfall (mm)	Wind velocity
2003-04	0.246	0.343	-0.150	-0.208	-0.168
2004-05	0.439	0.408	-0.121	-0.617*	-0.139

Table 3. Average aphid population per tiller on wheat crop.

Sowing date	Observation dates (2004-05)						Av. Aphid pop/tiller
	16.2.05	24.2.05	4.3.05	12.3.05	20.3.05	28.3.05
Oct. 25	0.0067	0.25	0.0367	0.296	0.158	0	0.61
Nov. 10	0.0367	0.0167	0.5073	1.6717	0.11	0.083	0.397
Nov. 25	0.3587	0.448	0.4017	3.1233	1.234	0.31	0.933
Dec. 10	0.0687	0.6817	1.655	11.235	0.767	0.597	2.499
Dec. 25	0.0033	0.7367	3.628	21.505	0.707	0.037	4.436
Jan. 10	0.1467	0.1417	0.6317	3.9917	2.388	0.945	1.374

 Figure 2: Average aphid per tiller on different sowing times

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results (Table 1) reveal that aphid population reached at maximum level (1821.90 aphids/tray) during second weak of March, 2003-04. Aphid counts was high in 2003-04 than during 2004-05. This was due to heavy rain during the later year. Population of aphid started to appear in January and gradually increased afterwards. In both the years population was increased upto 2^nd week of March and declined thereafter. The present findings agree to those of Wolfenbarger (10). The weather factors had effect on aphid population. The maximum temperature at day and night during the season had +ve and non-significant correlation with aphid population density. Relative humidity had negative and non-significant correlation with aphid population. Rainfall had negative and non-significant correlation (-0.208) during 2003-04 but it had it had –ve and significant correlation (-0.617*) with aphid population during 2004-05. In case of wind velocity the correlation with aphid population was negative but non significant. These results are partially agreement with Aheer et al. (6). Apparently, weather, other than rains and cold had little effect on aphid infestation. In 2004 and 2005 both years despite considerable temperature difference the pattern of aphid infestation was same. Infestation kept increasing till mid March and started declining. Planting time similarly had no pronounced effect on pattern of appearance of aphid. In all six plantings, the aphid infestation continued peaking and dropped after mid March. Early planting in November had, however, markedly low infestations but the infestation was progressively higher latter painting except the last where the infestation was low due to rising temperature.

The results obtained during study, regarding the effect of date of sowing on aphid attack were completely in agreement with the previous workers (7) who also reported that early maturing or early sown wheat crop averted aphid attack. Hence no severe damage was occurred.

REFERENCES

1.      Anonymous. 1987. Wheat traveling seminar, Pak. Agric. Res. Council, Islamabad. PP: 31.

2.      Aheer, G.M., I. Haq, K.J. Ahmad and A. Ali, 1993. Varietal resistance and sowing date effect on aphid density and wheat yield. J. Agric. Res. 31 (#): 63-68.

3.      Aheer, G.M., R. Ahmad, M. Afzal and A.Ali, 1993. Varietals resistance/susceptibity of wheat to aphids. Sitobion avenae F. and  Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominalis sasaki- J. Agric. Res. 31(3): 307-311.

4.      Aheer, G.M., K.J, Ahmad and A. Ali, 1994. Role of weather in fluctuating aphid density in wheat crop. J. Agric. Res. 32(3):295-301.

5.      Aheer, G.M., M.A. Zia, K.J. Ahmad and A. Ali, 1999. Role of Abiotic factors on population dynamics of alate aphids on wheat in different ecological zone of the Punjab. J. Agric. Res. 1999. 37(2-3): 187-194.

6.      Aheer, G.M., M. Munir and A. Ali. 2002. Role of Abiotic factors in fluctuating aphid population in wheat crop under the ecosystem of Mandi Bahaud-din District. J. agric. Res. 2002,04 (1):47-53.

7.      Acreman, T.M. and A.F.G. Dixon. 1985. Development patterns in wheat and Resistance to cereal aphids. Crop protection. 4(3):322-328. (Wheat, Barley and Triticale Absts. 3(2), 1308, 1986).

8.      Hashmi, A.A., M.M. hussain and M.Ulfat: 1983. Insect Post Complex Wheat Crop. Pak. J.Zool;15(2): 169-176.

9.      Stufkens, M.W. and J.A. Farrel. 1985. Observations on the phenology of rose-grain aphids in mid-Canterbury. Proc. N.Zea. Weed and Pest Control Conf. No.38, 184-187. (Ibid.3(5): 550;4754, 1986).

10.  Wolfen Barger, D.O. 1966. Aphid trap collection over a three-year period from Southern Florida Location, J.Econ. Entomol.59.953-954.