Wheat Cultivation

Wheat is the main cereal crop in India. The total area under the crop is about 29.8 million hectares in the country. The major increase in the productivity of wheat has been observed in the states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Indian wheat is largely a soft/medium hard, medium protein, white bread wheat, somewhat similar to U.S. hard white wheat.

Soil:
Wheat can be successfully grown on lighter soils provided their water and nutrient holding capacity are improved. Wheat is grown in a variety of soils of India. Soils with a clay loam or loam texture, good structure and moderate water holding capacity are ideal for wheat cultivation. Soil should be neutral in its reaction. Heavy soil with good drainage are suitable for wheat cultivation under dry conditions.

Climate Requirement:
Wheat is mainly a rabi (winter) season crop in India. Wheat crop has wide adaptability. It can be grown not only in the tropical and sub-tropical zones, but also in the temperate zone and the cold tracts of the far north, beyond even the 60 degree north altitude. During the heading and flowering stages, excessively high or low temperatures and drought are harmful to wheat. Cloudy weather, with high humidity and low temperatures is conducive for rust attack. Wheat plant requires about 14-15 c optimum average temperature at the time of ripening.

Fertilizer management:
It was demonstrated that 120 kg nitrogen, 60 kg phosphorus and 30 kg potash per hectare were required for optimum productivity. In the Indo-Gangetic plains, application of zinc @ 25kg/ha in rice-wheat system was found to increase the yield substantially. The use of sulphur has been found beneficial for enhancing the productivity as well as the grain protein content of wheat.

Wheat Growing Zones in India:
1. Northern Hill Zone: Hilly areas of J&K( except Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts), Himachal Pradesh( except Una & Paonta valley), Uttarakhand(excluding Tarai region) & Sikkim.

2. North Western Plains Zone: Punjab, Haryana, Western UP(except Jhansi Div.),Rajasthan (excluding Kota & Udaipur div),Delhi, Tarai region of Uttarakhand, Una & Paonta valley of HP, Jammu, Samba & Kathua districts of J&K and Chandigarh.

3. North Eastern Plains Zone: Eastern UP (28 dist.), Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha and other NE states (except Sikkim).

4. Central Zone: MP, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Kota & Udaipur Div. of Rajasthan & Jhansi Div. of UP.

5. Peninsular Zone: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu (except Nilgiris & Palani Hills), Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh

6. Southern Hill Zone: Nilgiris & Palani Hills of Tamil Nadu

Source: http://farmer.gov.in