The PAU-Farm Advisory Service Centre, Kapurthala conducted on-field farmer- scientist interaction to assess the actual yield performance of wheat varieties. Experts visited harvesting sites/grain markets located in district Kapurthala. The prolonged cold weather in March and April 2024 facilitated ripening of wheat grains in the last week of April and positively influenced yield by boosting the mean grain yield by 2-3 quintals in comparison to the last year. The wheat field having low fertility/alkaline/kallar soils yielded in the range of 15-16 quintals/acre. Medium fertility soils located in sandy loam/dona areas have yielded 18-20 quintals/acre. High fertility soils of bet areas located near the river bed of Sutlej, Beas and Kali Bein have yielded in the range of 21-24 quintals per acre. Even the surface seeded machine sown wheat fields located in Sultanpur Lodhi areas are falling in the high yield range of 21-24 quintals per acre.

Dr Pardeep Kumar, Senior Extension Specialist, informed that the farmers seem to be satisfied with the PAU recommended wheat varieties which have yielded comparatively very high in this Rabi season. Though the rabi season was briefly interrupted by 2-3 week western disturbances causing week sand storms accompanied by light rains in April, yet the actual lustre of wheat grain during wheat arrivals in the market is quite acceptable to the wheat procurement agencies, he said. Both the Rabi seasons i.e. 2022-23 and 2023-24 have proved to be high yielding from wheat biomass/wheat straw and wheat grain point of view, boosting farm income and agrarian sector consecutively, he observed.