Characterisation of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Cultivars Grown In Lesotho by Morphological Markers (Published)
Wheat is one of the major cereal crops grown in Lesotho, ranking third after maize and sorghum. Cultivars of wheat are imported from South Africa without characterization. The study was therefore conducted with the following objectives; (1) to distinguish wheat cultivars grown by farmers, (2) to estimate genetic distance among wheat cultivars and (3) to identify the characters that have high discriminatory power. Complete Randomized Block Design with ten treatments and three replications were applied. Data were collected using Descriptor and analysed using GENSTAT software to perform cluster and principal component analysis. The first three principal components constituted 84.572% of the total variation. First principal component variation accounted for 55.738%, while second principal component contributed 15.737% and third principal component constituted 12.858%. Characters responsible for variation in the first component were spikelets, spike height and tillers. Separation among second component was brought about by plant height, reproductive tillers and seeds per spike. Variation in component three was due to glume hairiness, seed size and plant height. Cluster analysis formed two groups, A and B, and one outlier. Group A comprised of Gariep, Koonap, Elands and Senqu while Group B consisted SST374, SST356, PAN3195, PAN3379 and TugelaDN. Group C was an outlier containing Matlabas. The findings showed that the cultivars were different from each other and as such genetic variation exists that broaden the spectrum of germplasm, from which farmers can make a wider choice.
Keywords: Cluster analysis, Lesotho, Principal Component Analysis, Wheat, morphological characters
An Analysis of Energy Consumption Pattern in Wheat Production in District Shaheed Benazir Abad Sindh Pakistan (Published)
Wheat (Triticum aestivium L.) is the main staple food for most of the population and largest grain source o the country. It occupies the central position in formulating agricultural policies. It contributes 13.1 percent to the value added in agriculture and 2.7 percent to GDP. Area and production target of wheat for the year 2012-13 had been set at 9045 thousand hectares and 25 million tons, respectively. Wheat was cultivated on an area of 8805 thousands hectares, showing a decrease of 3.6 percent over last year’s area of 9132 thousand hectares. However, a bumper wheat crop of 24.2 million tons has been estimated with 3.9 percent increase over the last year’s crop of 23.3 million tons. The prospects for wheat harvest improved with healthy fertilizer off-take and reasonable rainfall during pre-harvesting period. Energy is a necessary of life for human beings all over the world due to its function in strengthening the security and contentment of the people. Energy demand is growing with the passage of time due to infrastructural and industrial development. Energy is required to perform all the human activities. It is need for food preparation, water heating and cooling, for lighting, for production of goods etc. The study was focused on all types of energy (fossil fuels, chemicals, animals dung, animate etc). A sample of 60 farmers was selected from study area. A pre tested questioner was used to collect data from selected respondents through personal interviews. Descriptive statistics and Cobb-Douglas production function was applied to analyze the data. Result shows that wheat farmer achieved highest amount of net energy which was calculated as small, medium and large farmers is 1368336.88, 1698003.79 and1702527.75 MJ/acre respectively. In production of wheat large, medium and small farmers achieve amount of net energy which was calculated 41525.06, 38590.99, 39095.33 MJ/acre. The impact of various energy inputs on yield was studied. The share of various energy types in total cost of production was estimated. Commercial energy (diesel and electricity) consumed highest amount of energy in production of wheat.
Keywords: Energy consumption, Production, Wheat