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Wheat irrigation — CRI, tillering, jointing, flowering, milking, dough Photo: Shyamli Kashyap · Pexels License · source ↗

Wheat irrigation — CRI, tillering, jointing, flowering, milking, dough

A wheat crop in NWPZ needs 4-6 irrigations during its 140-160 day cycle. But not all irrigations are equal — some are critical stages where moisture stress directly cuts yield, and skipping one of those costs more than skipping two non-critical ones. ICAR-IIWBR Karnal and PAU Ludhiana standardise six critical growth stages.

The six critical stages

  1. Crown Root Initiation (CRI), 20-25 DAS — the most critical of all. Tillers and the crown root system develop now. A missed CRI irrigation cuts final yield by up to 25 percent. Apply 6-7 cm of water.
  2. Active tillering, 40-45 DAS — sub-tillers form. Moisture stress here reduces total productive tillers per square metre. Apply 5-6 cm.
  3. Late jointing / boot stage, 60-65 DAS — stem elongates and the spike develops inside the boot. Stress now reduces spike size and spikelet number. Apply 5-6 cm.
  4. Flowering / anthesis, 80-85 DAS — pollination and grain set. The most heat-sensitive stage. A missed irrigation plus a heat spike can sterilise flowers and shrivel grain. Apply 5-6 cm.
  5. Milking, 100-105 DAS — grain filling with milky endosperm. Stress here reduces grain weight directly. Apply 5-6 cm.
  6. Dough, 115-120 DAS — final grain hardening. The least critical of the six; if water is scarce, this is the one to skip first. Apply 4-5 cm.

Limited-water schedules

If only 4 irrigations are available, IIWBR recommends CRI + late jointing + flowering + milking. If only 3, CRI + flowering + milking. If only 2, CRI + flowering. If only 1, give the CRI irrigation; everything else depends on residual moisture and pre-sowing irrigation (palewa). Variety choice should match the water budget — DBW 173, HD 3043 and WH 1142 are tolerant to limited-irrigation conditions.

Method and efficiency

Conventional flood irrigation gives only 35-40 percent water-use efficiency. Border-strip irrigation with laser land levelling raises this to 55-65 percent. Drip-and-sprinkler systems on wheat — increasingly tested by ICAR-IIWBR and PAU — give 70-85 percent and save 25-35 percent water. On laser-levelled fields with proper border layout, the same 4-irrigation budget can deliver yields equivalent to 6-irrigation flood.

See also: Conservation agriculture in rice-wheat, Happy Seeder for paddy residue, HD 2967, HD 3086 Pusa Gautami.

Sources

  1. Package of Practices for Wheat. ICAR-IIWBR Karnal.
  2. Wheat Production Technology. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.