Pakistan is a low income developing country. Agriculture is
the most important sector of the country meeting food and fibre
requirements of the fast growing population. Although the rate of
population increase has considerably slowed down from over 3 percent in
1980s to 2.09 percent in 2009-10, it is still considered high.1 With the
current rate of population growth, the population is expected to get
doubled by 2050—making Pakistan 4th largest nation by 2050 from current
status of 6th most populous state of the world [Pakistan (2010)]. The
total cultivated area has increased by just 40 percent during past 60
years, while there has been more than 4 times increase in population
with urban expansion of over seven-fold—resulting into mega-cities2 as
well as rising population pressure on cultivated land. Wheat production,
a major food crop, has increased five-fold during the same period—yet
the country is marginal importer of wheat. Tremendous efforts are needed
both advances in technology and population control to narrow the food
supply-demand gap.
Zero tillage planting of wheat after rice has been the main success in the quest for resource-conserving technologies that can save water, reduce production costs and improve production in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, the cereal bowl of South Asia. Binomial logit models are used to assess the structural factors associated with its adoption in the rice-wheat systems of India's Haryana state and Pakistan's Punjab province. Zero tillage adoption is closely associated with a more favourable resource base and rice-wheat specialization in both study areas. This calls for a closer consideration of equity implications in future research and development.
Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important component of global food security but its production is threatened by abiotic stresses in climate change scenarios, especially drought stress. Many multinational companies have introduced maize hybrids worldwide which have variable performance under diverse environmental conditions. The maize production is likely to be affected by a future water crisis. Potassium (K) is a well-known macronutrient which improves the performance of cereals under abiotic stresses. In this field experiment, we assessed the influence of soil applied K on the productivity of diverse maize hybrids grown under well-watered and drought stress conditions. The study consisted of three K levels viz., control (no KCl), KCl at 50 kg ha−1, and KCI at 75 kg ha−1 factorally combined with two irrigation levels (i.e., normal recommended irrigation, well-watered condition, and half of the recommended irrigation, drought stress condition) and eight maize hybrids. Irrigation was kept in main plots, potassium in subplot, and maize hybrids in sub-subplots. The results revealed that performance of the maize hybrids was significantly influenced by all three factors, and the interaction of irrigation with potassium and irrigation with hybrids was significant; results being non-significant for all other interactions. Potassium application improved yield traits and water productivity under both normal and water stress conditions but effect was more prominent under water stress conditions than normal conditions. Potassium application also alleviated drought susceptibility of all maize hybrids. In all cases, the performance of maize hybrids was maximum under potassium application at 75 kg ha−1.
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