Looking beyond grain for overall benefit
from wheat in mixed crop livestock
systems
Michael Blϋmmel1, Arun K Joshi2, Nils Teufel1 and Iain A. Wright1
1
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), India and Ethiopia
2
Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT), Nepal
Wheat for Food Security in Africa Conference
Addis Ababa, 8-12 October 2012 1

Topics
 Wheat straw as commodity, contribution to overall
income from wheat production
 Wheat straw trading as feed back mechanism and
entry point for wheat straw value chain
improvement
 Opportunities and limitations of improving wheat
straw through multidimensional wheat
improvement
2

Peri-urban wheat straw
trader, New Delhi
3

Wheat straw-grain price
ratios in South Asia
Straw price/grain price in %, as collected during
village survey 2009/10
% (n) Normal Peak
Punjab 35 (18) 48 (18)
Haryana 19 (18) 30 (18)
N Teufel et al. (2011)
In Ethiopia in 2006/2007 Gebremedhin estimated reported wheat
straw - grain price ratios of 10 to 27%
4

Wheat straw collected from
fodder traders and farmers
Category Variety Price [Rs/kg straw] n
New Delhi wheat straw markets
best Not known 4.25 2
best WH-283 4.00 1
medium Not known 3.85 2
medium 1553 4.00 1
Village Kapriwas, dist. Rewari, Haryana
best C-306 3.50 1
best WH-283 3.40 1
good DBW-17 3.00 1
good PBW-502 3.00 1
good PBW-550 3.25 1
medium PBW-343 3.00 1
All samples collected for feeding trials 04/2009
5

Price: quality relations in wheat straw
traded monthly in New Delhi
from 2008 to 2009
6

Wheat straw collected from
fodder traders in Delhi and Patna
Category ADF [%dm (SE)] Price [Rs/kg straw (SE)] n
New Delhi wheat straw markets
best 48.8 (0.21) 4.43 (0.11) 36
good 49.3 (0.21) 4.21 (0.07) 72
medium 49.1 (0.24) 4.00 (0.09) 42
Patna straw markets
best 50.7 (0.16) 3.26 (0.08) 48
good 50.9 (0.14) 3.07 (0.06) 72
medium 51.6 (0.21) 2.85 (0.08) 35
Samples collected monthly for NIRS analysis 07/2008 – 06/2009
7

Price-quality relations in wheat straw
traded monthly in New Delhi and
Patna from 2008 to 2009
8

Wheat straw trials investigated
for straw traits
HTM = Heat Trial Early maturity: India (Indore, Ugar, Ludhiana, Karnal and Varansi)
Bangladesh and Pakistan
HTNM = Heat Trial Normal Maturity: India (Ugar, Ludhiana, Karnal)
Bangladesh and Pakistan (Islamabad, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad)
SAWYT = Semi Arid Wheat Trial: India (Indore, Ugar, Dharward and Varanasi)
Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan
ESWYT = Elite Spring Wheat Trial: Bangladesh and Pakistan
1st DRYT = 1st Drought Yield Trial: India (Indore, Ugar and Dharward) and Pakistan
2nd DRYT =2st Drought Yield Trial: India (Ludhiana, Karnal and Varanasi), Nepal and Pakistan
9

Relations between straw yield
and grain yield in a range of
wheat cultivars
6000 HTEM
HTNM
SAWYT
5000 ESWYT
1st DRYT
2nd DRYT
Grain yield (kg/ha)
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
Straw yield (kg/ha)
10

Relations between acid detergent fiber
content of straw and grain yield in
a range of wheat cultivars
6000 HTEM
HTNM
SAWYT
5000 ESWYT
1st DRYT
Grain yield (kg/ha)
2st DRYT
4000
3000
2000
1000
Wheat straw
trading
0
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Acid detergent fiber content (%) 11

Relations between nitrogen content
of straw and grain yield in a range of
wheat cultivars
12

Straw in vitro organic matter digestibility
and grain yield in 437 cultivars from IRRI
AROMATICS
9000 HYBRIDS
INDICA
8000 NPT
Released varieties
7000
Grain yield (kg/ha)
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
y = 10 650 - 103.7x; r= - 0.19 P=<0.0001
0
32.5 35.0 37.5 40.0 42.5 45.0 47.5 50.0 52.5
Straw in vitro organic matter digestibility (%)
13
Source: Blümmel et al. 2007

Relations between acid detergent
fiber and straw yield in a range of
wheat cultivars
9000 HTEM
HTNM
8000 SAWYT
ESWYT
7000 1st DRYT
2nd DRYT
Straw yield (kg/ha)
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Acid detergent fiber content (%) 14

Conclusions
In times of peak demand in wheat straw prices can
approach half that of the grain
Price premiums for higher quality wheat straws on
average about 11 from intuitively small
differences
Including straw traits in cultivar choice increases
probability of having premium straw quality
Vary strong clustering of cultivar types for grain
and straw yield and for straw quality
15