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ARID ZONE RESEARCH CENTRE, QUETTA 
Achievements 2006-07

Agro meteorology
The Khushkaba, sailaba farming system of upland Balochistan is indigenous and needs to be coordinated with the scientific information. Archive met data was imported and AZRC developed software package "BELINDA" used to develop different probabilities for research and planning.

The uncertain rainfall and temperature regimes of upland Balochistan are highly risky for sailaba and Khushkaba farming systems, rains are deficient, summers and winters are severe, crop also suffer terminal cold and yellow rust. The detail analysis of Khuzdar and Lorali shows 40% of median rainfall during July and August, permitting autumn sowing in six (Lorali) or seven (Khuzdar) years out of ten.

Less then 10% for Quetta, autumn cereals can be expected two or three years out of ten. Cumulative probabilities of spring sowing for Quetta are 93% while it is <60% for Lorali and Khuzdar. Low temperatures delays spring plantation while terminal cold destroys local wheat in Kalat to Lorali areas. Temperature data suggests that at Quetta, spring plantation should be started after 20th January, where as at Khuzdar and Loralai there is no serious restriction for winter sowing. Spring varieties having drought and cold resistance, short season, capable of rapid germination are recommended for the areas. Crop varieties with considerable winter hardness are required for elevation of 1500 meter or above (since Quetta is 1587 m high). Khuzdar and Loralai (1231 & 1431) represent a traditional zone in this respect. Over all old Loralai including Barkhan and Musakhail districts have better rainfall distribution.

Response of Inoculum on Lentil in Dry Land Conditions of Mastung.

Results of study reveal that, highest 38 nodules/plant were found in Hot water + Humic Acid. Hot water + inoculum treatment produced 35 nodules/plant. Whereas, Hot water alone and control produced 27 and 20 nodules/plant, respectively. Hot water treatment alone produced highest grain yield of 421 kgha-1 than other treatments. Control treatment remained next to hot water treatment with 367 kgha-1. Hot water + Inoculum produced lowest grain yield of 283 kgha-1.

Response of Hot Water and Humic Acid Seed Treatment on Wheat.

Hot water + Humic Acid produced higher grain and total dry matter (TDM) yields of 2182 and 7267 kgha-1 respectively. Hot water alone remained at second with grain and TDM yields of 1562 and 4933 kgha-1 respectively.

Effect of Hot Water and Humic Acid Seed Treatment on Barley.

Data reveals that control treatment produced highest grain yield of 2439 kgha-1. Hot water treatment produced lower grain yield of 2104 kgha-1. Control treatment produced highest TDM of 5667 kgha-1, where as hot water + Humic acid remained second and produced 5333 kgha-1.

Effect of Humic Acid on Wheat in Dry Areas of Balochistan.
Humic Acid applied @ 0.0005% produced highest grain yield (1616 kgha-1). Humic Acid @ 0.001% produced lowest grain yield of 1047 kgha-1. Humic Acid @ 0.0005% produced highest TDM of 11867 kgha-1, while humic acid applied @ 0.002% remained second and produced 9420 kgha-1.

Performance of three Barley Varieties at Mastung.

Local Variety produced highest grain yield of 1976 kgha-1. FAT031-N (ICARDA) variety remained 2nd with 1520 kgha-1. Local variety produced highest TDM of 4860 kgha-1, where as FAT031-N remained 2nd with 3460 kgha-1.

Performance of three Lentil Varieties at Mastung.

ILL 4400 (ICARDA) variety produced highest grain yield of 553 kgha-1. Shir AZ (AZRC) produced lowest grain yield of 263 kgha-1. ILL 4400 produced highest TDM of 2060 kgha-1 and other two varieties (Local and Shir-AZ) produced the same TDM of
1600 kgha-1.

Performance of two Black Mash (Vigna Mungo) Varieties at Killa Saifullah.
The growth of both varieties was very slow in the early vegetative stage. Later on vigorous growth was observed in the local mash having more number of plants/m2 and more plant height. Data indicate that Chakwal mash variety produced more grain yield of 660 kgha-1 as compared to local mash variety which produced 290 kgha-1. Number of nodules plant-1 of chakwal mash were remarkably high as compared to local mash. Number of nodules on Chakwal mash were 40 and on local mash they were 15. It was also observed that Chakwal mash Variety matures ten days earlier than local mash.

Effect of Supplemental Irrigation on Water Savage and Yield of Wheat.
Data reveal that, maximum fresh biomass and total dry matter (TDM) yields were produced with 6 supplemental irrigations to wheat crop. However grain yield and 1000 grain weight were recorded maximum with 3 supplemental irrigations provided at crown root, tillering and dough stages. The results reveal that, by limiting the need of water requirements of the crop to 3 supplemental irrigations of 50 mm each without loss in the grain yield.

Soil Fertility Monitoring and Management at District Barkhan.

Soil and plant samples analysis shows that, soils of district Barkhan are:
· Highly calcareous CaCO3% 29.5, low in Organic Matter% is 0.91% and have pH value of 8.21
· Sailaba soils are low in NO3-N, P and Zn while adequate in K, Cu, Fe, Mn and B.
· Plants analysis showed deficiency of NO3-N & P while adequate in K, B and Zn.
· Soil series are; Chiltan, Barkhan, Potai and Rakni.

Improvement of Sailaba Crop Production through Fertilizer Application Mash:
Three years research trial data in sailaba cropping system reveal that, application of N @ 10 and P @ 20 kgha-1 to mash remarkably increased number of productive nodules, and grain yield increased up to 37.7% over control.

Sorghum:
Application of NPB @ N60, P30 and B5 kgha-1 can increase TDM of Kharif sorghum up to 45% and grain yield up to 43%.

Soil Profile Study of Integrated Research Site Sidiqabad, Distt. Mastung

Surveyed area represents about 100 ha. Because of the prolonged drought, irrigated activity is 80% and dryland is 20%. Fields are not leveled and having levies, soils are moderately deep to deep and fertile. Average rainfall is 150-250 mm. Shrinab River is the only source of runoff for dryland agriculture, and water of Shrinab is salty in nature and not suitable for agriculture. The water table is 200 ft and more. The local vegetation is Fagonia Arabica, Pengonum harmala, Halozylon griffithii. Soil series are Shamozai, Sariab and Kaftari. In FAO Classification they are Eutric Combisols, Haplic Eronosols.

Geology and land forms
The area is composed of limestone and shale. The limestone light grey in color and fine grained to massive in structure highly resistant to weathering. The survey area can be divided into following land forms;

Alluvial fans: These occupy the foothills and are formed of gravelly and stony mountain outwashes.

Piedmont plains: With distance from the mountain in the valley bottoms the alluvial fans give way to the piedmont planes. These are constituted of finer piedmont alluvial deposits by sheet floods from the ephemeral streams.

Stream floodplains: This landform occurs along river Shrinab and has resulted from the sedimentation of coarse and fine material brought by the river.

Hydrology
Precipitation: Rainfall is low and erratic with time and space and occurs due to the Mediterranean disturbances during winter. Rainfall intensity is low, snow in very rare. Summer rains are very little but are fast and brings lot of material when ever it occurs. As the rainfall is low and of lower intensity therefore ground water recharge is a serious concern. Average annual rainfall is around 150-250 mm.

Surface water: The main stream flowing in the area is Shrinab, there were spring which has been dried off due to the rainfall shortage. The water of Shrinab is saline that is unfit for irrigation, but because of the better soil drainage it does not cause serious problem to the dryland crops.

Ground water: Only four tube wells are working at the moment and depth of the tube wells ranged from 100 feet to 200 feet. The water of the tube wells is saline and not good for drinking. Arid Zone Research Centre (AZRC) and Balochistan Rural Support (BRSP) with the financial assistance of ICARDA/FAO/USAID is helping the farmers in the construction of the RCC water ponds and cement pipe and PVC pipe lining from source top to fields.

Water Productivity Trial at Integrated Research Site (Sidiqabad-Mastung) 2006 (site 1)
Results reveal that, Full irrigation, i.e., farmers practice produced 1410 kgha-1 grain yield while 80% and 60% irrigations produced 1208 and 1149 kgha-1 respectively. The saved water through 60% irrigation can help to bring more area under cultivation and can increase crop yield up to 50%.

Water Productivity Trials at Integrated Research Site (Sidiqabad-Mastung) 2006 (Site. 2)

At the 2nd site fertilizer application under stressed environments significantly increased the grain yield treatment F1: N40:P20 kgha-1 gave 486 kgha-1 and F2:N60:P20 produced 717 kgha-1. Soil profile study revealed that at the 1st site the texture is light and soil is moderately deep <1m and the roots were seen in the moist zone. At the 2nd sight the soil is deep but have hard pan after 20-25cm which did not allowed the roots to penetrate in to the moist soil and because of this reason grain yield is low than the site one.

Significant difference was observed with different irrigation practices, highest yield was observed with the full irrigation that was 36% higher over 80% irrigation and 132% higher over 60% irrigation. Due the heavy load shedding and other problems (cold wave and breakage of tube-well machinery) farmer could manage only one irrigation if he had the chance of the 2nd and 3rd irrigation the experiment results could have been other way.

Adoptability Problems of Barley in Sailaba and Khushkaba Cropping Systems of Balochistan

Study reveals that the dryland farmers are reluctant for wheat to barley shift, because, severe cold damages barley crop at early stages because of the higher plant water and more leaf area than wheat, when this plant water crystallizes it causes severe frost damage, heavy birds attack to barley due to its early maturity and finally they always wants to assure their food security. Keeping in view the above reasons the farmers, therefore prefer to grow wheat.

Use of Humic Acid to Improve Sater Use Efficiency

Lentil
The results of the Experiment conducted on AZRC improved lentil variety Shir-AZ indicated that the low rate of Humic Acid 0.0005% gave more grain yield of 769.6kgha-1, which is 29.6% higher than the control. Control treatment produced 541.7kgha-1.

Local lentil
Humic Acid application to the local lentil at a lower rate of 0.0005% produced grain yield of 721.5kgha-1 while local produced 539.6kgha-1. The application of lower rate of Humic Acid 0.0005% gave an increase of 25.2% over control.

WW barley (Advance line)
Humic Acid was also applied to the AZRC advance barley line (WW) and the experimental results indicated that the low rate of Humic Acid 0.0005% is also efficient and effective for the barley as it was in lentil (local and Shir-AZ) and it produced 1001.8kgha-1 of grain yield where as control produced 810.8kgha-1. The increase by the low rate of Humic Acid over control was 19.06%.

Use of sub-lethal temperature to improve drought resistance local wheat
Experimentation proved that the sub-lethal temperature seed treatment has the capacity to improve drought resistance. The sub-lethal treatment of 50oC produced grain yield of 875 kgha-1 while control gave yield of 475kgha-1. Results also indicated that with the increase in temperature grain yield decreased. The sub-lethal treatment of 50oC gave an increase of 45.7% over control.

AZRI-96 (AZRC Wheat Variety)

Experimentation also proved that the sub-lethal temperature seed treatment has increased the drought resistance capacity of the AZRI-96. The sub-lethal treatment of 60oC produced the grain yield of 822kgha-1 over control while control produced 748kgha-1 grain yield. Results also indicated that temperature after 60oC is not effective and has decreased the crop yield. In AZRC-96 the sub-lethal treatment of 60oC gave an increase of 9% over control.

Effect of FYM Applications on Crop Yield

Farm yard manure mixed with N and P was applied as surface mix and band. The experimental results showed that the banded FYM conserved moisture deep in the soil profile and increased grain yield over control by 51%, the grain yield of the control was 401 kgha-1 while FYM banded +N +P produced 605 kgha-1. The effect of FYM on soil temperature was also recorded, it was found that during the colder month of February FYM surface mixed and banded both affected the cold temperature and the soil temperature of the control was 11.40C, while FYM-SM was 12.20C and FYM-Banded was 13.40C.

Agrometeorology

Historical rainfall data and long term averages shows that the year 2005-06 may be among the driest years, only 70 mm rainfall received during the cropping season. Other critical incident was dry severe cold spell during Jan, 2006 when the air temperature remained more than -80C for a week and went up to -150C. This cold wave was through out the province and badly damaged the horticultural crops even in the hot areas of the province Dahadar, Sibi and Harnai.

Effect of Fertilizer on Olive under Drip Irrigation at AZRC, Quetta

Plant height (cm)
The results indicate that the mean plant height ranged from 119.67 to 164.67 cm for different treatments. It reveals that the maximum plant height 164.67 cm was recorded in NP treatment and followed by treatment N where plant height was recorded as 135 cm. The minimum plant height 119.67 cm was recorded in the treatment in which K was applied alone. The results are statistically non significant.

Plant canopy (cm)
The results indicate that mean plant canopy ranged from 83 to 109.33 cm for different treatments. It reveals that the maximum plant canopy 109.33 cm was recorded in Control treatment followed by N where plant canopy was recorded as 107 cm. The minimum plant canopy 83 cm was recorded in NP treatment. (Due to erect growth of plant). The results are statistically non significant.

Leaf size (cm)
The results indicate that the mean leaf size ranged from 3.03 to 4.50 cm for different treatments. It reveals that the maximum leaf size 4.50 cm gave by treatment N and followed by treatment NP where the leaf size was recoded as 3.73 cm. The minimum leaf size 3.03 cm was recorded from treatment K. The results are statistically non significant.

Sprouting %
The results indicate that the mean sprouting% ranged from 2.33 to 3.67% for different treatments. It reveals that the maximum sprouting 3.67% gave by treatment NP, (this treatment also gave fast sprouting than others) and followed by treatment N where the sprouting was recorded as 3%. The minimum sprouting 2.67% was recorded from treatment NPK. The results are statistically non significant.

Chlorosis %
The results indicate that the mean chlorosis % ranged from 0.00 to 0.67% for different treatments. It reveals that the maximum chlorosis 0.67% gave by the treatment Control and followed by treatments NPK, K and P where the chlorosis was recorded 0.33%. The results are statistically significant.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
i) Alteration and dvelopment of Oyjord seed drill for ridge furrow sowing in dry-lands.
ii) Catchment basin water harvesting technologies for dry lands.
iii) Introduction of inoculation for lentils in drylands.
iv) Introduction of fertilizers in uplands of Balochistan.

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[Last updated: April 06, 2007]