In October 1963, about 100 kg of seeds of four Mexican semi-dwarf wheat varieties bred by Norman Borlaug – Sonora 63, Sonora 64, Mayo 64 and Lerma Rojo 64A – arrived at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. These were sown in November, at trial fields in IARI as well as Ludhiana (Punjab), Pantnagar and Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), and Pusa (Bihar). Their yield performance, relative to the locally-cultivated “check” varieties such as NP 824, NP 876, C 273 and C 306, was found to be encouraging at the multi-location trials.
