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HD 2967 wheat Photo: Dhally Romy · Pexels License · source ↗

HD 2967 wheat

HD 2967 is a bread wheat variety bred at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and notified in 2011. For more than a decade it has been the backbone variety of the North-Western Plains Zone — Punjab, Haryana, Western UP, parts of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand — and at its peak it covered the largest area under any single wheat variety in India.

Key features

  • Breeder: ICAR-IARI Pusa, New Delhi
  • Notification year: 2011
  • Zone: NWPZ — Punjab, Haryana, Western UP, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, HP plains
  • Duration: 143-157 days
  • Average yield: 50-55 q/ha; potential 66 q/ha
  • Grain: amber, medium-bold; test weight ~40 g/1000 grains
  • Protein: ~12 percent
  • Resistance (at release): yellow rust, brown rust — high resistance; Karnal bunt moderately resistant

Cultivation

HD 2967 is a timely-sown irrigated variety. Sowing window 25 October to 25 November. Seed rate 100 kg/ha at 22.5 cm row spacing. NPK 150:60:40 kg/ha with split N. Five to six irrigations are required across the season at CRI, tillering, jointing, flowering, milking and dough stages. The variety responds well to higher fertility and is particularly suited to medium-textured loam soils with assured tube-well water.

Pests and diseases

At release HD 2967 carried strong yellow rust (Yr17 + Yr27) and brown rust resistance, which is what drove its rapid adoption across NWPZ. From around 2018-2019, new yellow rust races (notably 78S84 / Warrior race group) began to overcome that resistance in pockets of Punjab and Haryana. Farmers in those districts are now being advised by PAU Ludhiana, CCS HAU Hisar and IIWBR Karnal to shift to DBW 222 or DBW 303. The variety remains rotation-suitable elsewhere.

Adoption

At peak in 2017-2019, HD 2967 was sown on more than 10 million hectares across NWPZ — the largest area under any single Indian wheat variety in history. State seed corporations of Punjab, Haryana and UP carried the bulk of the certified seed. Adoption is now slowly declining as IIWBR Karnal releases (DBW 187, DBW 222, DBW 303) take over the niche.

See also: HD 3086 Pusa Gautami, HD 3226 Pusa Yashasvi, DBW 222 Karan Narendra, PBW 725.

Sources

  1. Compendium of Wheat Varieties Notified in India. ICAR-IIWBR Karnal.
  2. HD 2967 variety page. ICAR-IARI Pusa New Delhi.