E-Paper
Mysterious dwarfing disease worries paddy growers in Haryana
Paddy growers in Haryana are worried due to a mysterious dwarfing disease reported in the crop as they are unable to find out the reason behind the stunted growth of plants.
Paddy growers in Haryana are worried due to a mysterious dwarfing disease reported in the crop as they are unable to find out the reason behind the stunted growth of plants.
As per reports, the stunted growth of paddy was reported in almost all the major paddy-producing districts of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Kaithal and Yamunanagar.
The aggrieved farmers said the mysterious disease was reported in almost all varieties of paddy but the high-yielding lateral parmal rice varieties of PUSA 44, PR 121, PR 113, PR 114, PR 128 and NDR 359 are the worst affected and they were expecting a yield loss of up to 30 percent.
This virus has come as a jolt to the paddy growers of the state as they needed a rich harvest to mitigate the losses, they suffered during the rabi season caused by a fall in the wheat yield.
“This is for the first time in my memory that such a mysterious disease is affecting the growth of around 30 percent of the plants. Even they died before attaining the required height, while the remaining 70 percent crop in the same field is healthy,” said a farmer Madan Lal from Indri of Karnal district who has grown parmal rice on 8 acres.
Another farmer, Sandeep Kumar, who transplanted PR 114 and PR 126 on 17 acres in Karnal’s Bijna village during the third week of June, said, “We noticed the dwarfing disease when the crop was one-and-a-half-month old and tried to use some fungicides and insecticides but there was no control to it as most of the crop is under the attack.”
“It is expected that the yield will remain below 25 quintals against 35 quintal per acre of the last year,” he added.
Even as the officials from the state agriculture department are not fully aware of the origin and reason behind the spread of this virus, they have advised the farmers to uproot the affected plants and use insecticides to ensure that the virus should not spread further.
Karam Chand, deputy director, Haryana agriculture department, Kaithal, said there is no treatment for this disease but farmers can control it from spreading further by removing the affected plants.
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has confirmed that southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) is the cause of stunted plants but the reason behind the sudden spread of this virus is yet to be ascertained.
Virender Singh Lather, retired principal scientist, Indian Agricultural Institute, ICAR, New Delhi, said that it is for the first time that the presence of southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) was reported in Haryana and Punjab.
He, however, blamed the increasing number of private companies in the seed production in the country saying, “Most of the private companies have seed plants in the southern states and there is a strong possibility that this virus has come with the seeds as this disease was reported in the southern states of the country.”
He said that paddy sown under the direct seeded rice (DSR) technique is not affected as there is no impact of the disease on early sown paddy.
