Wheat crop intact despite rise in temperature

BRIGHT PROSPECTS

- Sandip Das New Delhi, February 17

DESPITE TEMPERATURE RULING above the normal range in major wheat-growing regions, the prospects of a higher output of the key rabi crop look bright as the crop conditions are largely robust, officials and millers said.

"There is no cause for concern about the standing wheat crop, and there are no projections of any abnormal rise in temperature or heat wave in the coming 10 to 15 days," Ch Srinivasa Rao, director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, told FE. He added that prevailing night temperatures have been cooler, thus helping the crop.

However, Rao said that temperature during the second half of March, just prior to harvesting, would be crucial to assess the crop yield. Recently, Ratan Tiwari, director of the Karnal-based Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, ruled out any reports of yellow or brown rusts in the wheat crop.