Kharchia wheat explained

Kharchia Local is a tall,^[1] landrace^[2] wheat cultivar. It is native to sodic-saline soils of Kharchia tehsil of the Pali district of Rajasthan in India,^[3] and is a line developed from selections from farmer's fields. It is the most salt tolerant wheat genotype found in India. Kharchia is red grained,^[4] and is highly susceptible to rust, making it unpopular with many farmers.

Kharchia 65 is a derived cultivar of Kharchia Local developed through back cross breeding with a rust-resistant type. In India most of the improved salinity-resistant varieties have been developed using Kharchia 65 as a base, and it is used as a standard for the salt tolerance test of wheat worldwide. Yield of about 10-20 Q/ha. have been reported for Kharchia, irrigated with waters having less than 10 mmhos/cm (=6400 ppm or 6400 mg/L approx).

See also

• Wheat leaf rust

Notes and References

1. Incremental crop tolerance to weeds . 10.1007/s10681-005-9056-5 . 21873056 .
2. Web site: Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of salt-tolerant wheat .
3. Web site: Approaches to increasing the salt tolerance of wheat and other ... .
4. Book: 10.1007/978-1-4020-5578-2_18 . Participatory Breeding for Drought and Salt Tolerant Crops . Advances in Molecular Breeding Toward Drought and Salt Tolerant Crops . 2007 . Hollington . P.A. . Steele . Katherine A. . 455–478 . 978-1-4020-5577-5 .