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SWI - An Innovation
In Rabi 2006, PSI carried out first crop intensification trials on wheat (SWI) at its Niranjanpur farm at Dehradun. Two varieties of wheat - HD-2329 and PBW-396 were grown at different row-to-row and plant-to-plant spacing (20cm x 20cm and 15cm x 15cm). Only a single seed was sown at marked intervals and two irrigations were provided. In the field trials, only organic compost was applied. Two weeding were done after 30 and 45 days along with application of Panchgavya. The performance of the SWI plants in the research plots was closely monitored against that of wheat grown by broadcasting method. Maximum yield of 25 Q/ha was obtained for PBW 396 variety under 20 x 20 plant to plant and row to row spacing. If one considers average yields, then in HD2329, the average productivity of wheat went up from 17 Q/ha to 21 Q/ha, a jump of about 25 per cent. In PBW 396 the average yield increased about 57 per cent from 14.5 Q/ha to 23 Q/ha! Thus field trials on research farm of PSI of crop intensification technique on wheat showed an average increase of about 25-55 per cent in grain yields from the SWI plots compared to the conventional method. |
Encouraged by the above results, during 2007 Rabi season, PSI conducted further trials on farmlands of 34 farmers in Uttarakhand and 15 farmers in Himachal Pradesh, both under irrigated and unirrigated conditions. These farmers belong from 19 villages of Tehri Garhwal and Rudraprayag districts of Uttarakhand, and 7 villages of Kangra and Sirmour districts of Himachal Pradesh. A single wheat seed sown by SWI method yielded an average of 19 tillers as compared to 6 tillers by broadcasting method. The average plant height in case of SWI crop was 90 cms as compared to 70 cms in case of broadcasting method. The average productivity of irrigated wheat went up from 22 Q/ha to 43 Q/ha, showing about 95 percent increase in grain yields. Similarly, under unirrigated conditions, the average yield increased by about 63 per cent from 16 Q/ha to 26 Q/ha! The straw yields from SWI crop under irrigated and unirrigated conditions increased by about 87 and 48 per cent respectively. In 2008 21.2ha area was covered by 1048 farmers under SWI method in 10 districts and 139 villages of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The average yield increase of grain 97 percent in and 81 percent in irrigated and un-irrigated land respectively. |
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This year (2009-10) about 4000 farmers from 303 villages have adopted SWI in 16 districts of Uttarakhand (10) and Himachal Pradesh (6), covering 84 ha. Three kinds of trials, both under seed sowing and transplanting (9-20 days old seedlings) are being done this year. Trials on System of Wheat Intensification in Mountain Regions of HP and UKD: |
The SWI crop performance is much better than the conventional crop. The 90 days’ old SWI crops have 25 tillers per plant on an average as compared to 5 tillers in conventional crop. Please find attached photographs of different stages of the SWI crop.
This year’s programme is being implemented with the financial support of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) Mumbai, WWF-ICRISAT, Hyderabad and NABARD, Uttarakhand & Himachal Pradesh.
