Simulating the effect of emex australis densities and sowing dates on agronomic traits of wheat We report the release of a new wheat variety Manthar-03. "Manthar-03" is a high yielding and rust resistant variety of bread wheat with erect growth habit. It was released in the year 2003 as a general purpose variety. Manthar-03 is a selection from CIMMYT material (Entry No. 42 of 29 th International Bread Wheat Screening Nursery) made at Regional Agricultural Research Institute (RARI), Bahawalpur during 1996-97. This strain has the famous CIMMYT line ‘Kauz’ in its parentage (KAUZ//ALTAR 84/AOS). Its pedigree is CM11163-6M-20Y-10M- 0M-0B. It is a more adapted and a high yielder. Genetically, this strain differs from existing commercial cultivars of Punjab. Resistance against leaf rust (5MRMS to 10MR), RRI value of 6.7 and 7.6 for leaf rust and ACI values of 3.4 & 0.7 for leaf rust) and high yield potential (6300 kg ha -1 ) are the major attributes of Manthar-03 that make it a superior variety for its target regions. Manthar-03 is tolerant to wheat aphid and Helicoverpa armigera. The thousand seed weight of this variety is 40-44 g. Seed is amber in color and contains 12.97% protein, 8.2% dry gluten and 1.55% ash. It has good chapati making quality. Plant type of Manthar-03 is erect with plant height 94 cm and droopy flag leaves. It is lodging resistant. It completes heading in 98 days and matures in 142 days. Manthar-03 performs better when planted from 15th November to Ist. December, keeping 125 kg ha -1 seed rate and 125-85-50 kg NPK ha -1 are applied. Keywords: Triticum aestivum, variety, rust resistance, quality, grain yield INTRODUCTION Bread wheat is the most widely grown crop in the world. Being most important crop, wheat is cultivated on an area of 9.046 million hectares during 2008-09 with a prods of 24.033 million tones in the country (Anonymous, 2010). It contributes 13.1 percent to the value added in agriculture and 2.8 percent to GDP (Anonymous, 2009). Southern Punjab contributes about 44% of the total wheat production of the province. Due to long stay of cotton crop in the field about 80% wheat in this region is being planted late. This situation necessitates the development of medium to late maturing wheat varieties like Manthar-03 that can be successfully grown after the harvest of cotton (Ahmad et al., 2005). Wheat varieties such as Inqlab-91 (covers about 60- 70% area under wheat in Pakistan) and Bhakkar-2002 have become susceptible to rust diseases and need to be replaced with new varieties (Anonymous, 2004;2005). Leaf rust of wheat (Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici) is a serious production hazard all over the world (McIntosh et al., 1997). During favorable years, it spreads fast and can significantly reduce yields but this reduction depends upon disease intensity and time of infection (Anonymous, 1993). Leaf rust epidemic can cause upto 50% losses in grain yield (Yaqoob, 1991) and sometimes result in total failure of the crop. Chemical control of rut diseases is not economical; therefore, cultivation of rust resistant varieties is of paramount importance (Anonymous, 2005). Successive release of rust resistant varieties in Pakistan has reduced losses caused by rust (Khan, 1987). With the introduction of rust resistant varieties, new rust races also develop due to mutation, therefore, the plant breeders and plant pathologists have to be vigilant of its dynamics. Therefore, wheat variety having the higher yield potential, disease and insect resistance and better adaptability is a dire need of the southern Punjab. Manthar-03 is a result of devoted and untiring efforts of the team consisting of plant breeders, agronomists, plant pathologists, entomologists and agricultural chemists working at Regional Agricultural Research Institute, Bahawalpur. It is suitable for normal and late planting in irrigated areas of Punjab and will help to achieve the self-sufficiency in wheat production, due to its commendable traits. This variety possesses Pak. J. Agri. Sci., Vol. 47(4), 375-382; 2010 ISSN (Print) 0552-9034, ISSN (Online) 2076-0906 http://www.pakjas.com.pk MANTHAR-03: A HIGH-YIELDING CULTIVAR OF WHEAT RELEASED FOR GENERAL CULTIVATION IN SOUTHERN PUNJAB Manzoor Hussain 1,* , Lal Hussain Akhtar 2 , Altaf Hussain Tariq 1 , Muhammad Rafiq 1 and Muhammad Nasim 3 1 Regional Agricultural Research Institute (RARI), Bahawalpur, Pakistan; 2 Agricultural Research Station, Bahawalpur; 3 Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Bahawalpur, Pakistan * Corresponding author’s e.mail: lhakhtar@yahoo.com