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Rain good for wheat yield in Punjab, Haryana
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service

The current spell of rain is good for crops such as wheat, gram, barley and mustard. The late-sown wheat varieties will get a good temperature to ripen and grains will be thicker. MS Sandhu, director, agriculture, Punjab

Hailstorm worrying factor Ludhiana and Sonepat districts were lashed by a hailstorm, worrying farm experts The wheat is ripening and a hailstorm at this stage could affect the grain formation, they said Hails bend the wheat spikes and in some cases damage the spikes, resulting in poor production Shimla, Manali get more snow Shimla and Manali received fresh snowfall on Saturday. Icy winds brought down the minimum temperature to 1°C in Shimla, which recorded 4 cm snow and 21.8 mm rain.

Chandigarh, March 1
The widespread rain across the region has come as good news to farmers who are eyeing better yield in the rabi season. Hailstorm in Ludhiana and Sonepat districts, however, could hurt the productivity.

Chandigarh and its surrounding areas received 24.9 mm of rainfall today. While Amritsar witnessed 2 mm rain, Ludhiana (6 mm), Patiala (1 mm) and Karnal (4 mm) also received widespread showers.

Agriculture experts say the current spell of rain is good for crops such as wheat, gram, barley and mustard. MS Sandhu, director, Agriculture, Punjab said the late-sown varieties of wheat will benefit the most. "These varieties will get a good temperature to ripen and grains will be thicker. But we hope that the rain doesn’t get accompanied by high-velocity winds," he said.

BS Duggal, managing director of Haryana Seeds Development Corporation, said the showers would help in stemming the spread of yellow rust. “The mild rainfall is not conducive for the development of yellow rust," he said.

Dr Indu Sharma, project director of the Directorate of Wheat Research at Karnal, however, cautioned against the fall in temperature. "If the temperature continues to remain low, it could impact the grain formation," she said, adding that the temperature in the region was at least two degrees below normal. Punjab is expecting a wheat production of 168 lakh metric tones this year, while Haryana target is 124 lakh MT. Hailstorm is another worrying factor for experts. “The wheat crop is ripening and hailstorm at this stage is detrimental to grain formation,” said Dr SS Gosal, director research, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. “Hails bend the spikes of the wheat and in some cases the spikes also get damaged. It adversely hits the grain formation,” said Gosal.