Punjab Floods: A Natural Testing Ground for Resilient Maize
Punjab's floods have inadvertently created a natural lab for testing flood-resistant maize crops. CIMMYT's flood-submerged test fields are providing vital data to develop hybrids with water-logging tolerance, crucial for restoring 1.9 lakh hectares of affected farmland. The findings will inform discussions on climate adaptation strategies for South Asian agriculture.
- Country:
- India
Punjab's recent devastating floods have unexpectedly turned into an unprecedented real-world laboratory for testing flood-resistant maize hybrids. This phenomenon presents invaluable insight for scientists aiming to restore the 1.9 lakh hectares of farmland ravaged by water across the state.
Prior to the floods, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) had been field-testing ten hybrid maize varieties at its Ludhiana facility. With waters engulfing agricultural land across 1,400 villages, four hybrids previously developed for water-logging tolerance are now under rigorous natural testing conditions.
The outcomes from this inadvertent trial will be discussed at the forthcoming 'Dialogue Next' conference, organized by the World Food Prize Foundation. Here, experts will strategize climate adaptation solutions for South Asia's agriculture, driven by real-time data from Punjab's submerged test fields.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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