Trial Testing Sites in the All India Coordinated Projects - How well do they represent Agro-ecological Zones and Farmers' Fields?
Abstract
Multilocational trials in the All India Coordinated Crop Improvement Projects (AICCIPs) are used to test the new products from breeding programmes in the country. They are used to establish which entries, if any, are superior to existing ones and to measure the stability of performance across sites and years. The data are also used to establish the area of adaptation in which the cultivar will be recommended for cultivation. Crucial issue in the conduct of multilocational trials is how to select the test sites and, once they are chosen, using management conditions that will most efficiently identify superior entries. Often multilocational trials are used to select cultivars with wide adaptation that perform well over a wide range of environments. This strategy requires trials with sites located over a wide area. In contrast, trials for specific adaptability aim to identify cultivars for particular agro-ecological niches, and trials need to be situated in the environments in question.
This chapter examines whether the trial sites selected by the AICCIPs represent: important areas of production, the agro-ecological zones, and farmers' fields. Trials for pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea and groundnut are considered.
Citation
Seeds of Choice: Making the Most of New Varieties for Small Farmers, ITDG Publishing, 1853394475, 1-18.
Links