As more incidents of fungal disease attacks appear, Karnal based Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR) today warned of extensive damage to wheat crop if adequate steps were not taken to protect crop from fungal disease--yellow rust.
"Everyday we are receiving reports pertaining to attack of yellow rust on wheat crop as it seems to be spreading fast due to congenial weather conditions," DWR, Project Director, Indu Sharma told PTI today.
"There can be widespread damage to wheat crop if it is not controlled by now," she said adding that 80 per cent of the infected crop could be damaged due to this disease.
"We have spotted 5 to 7 spots of yellow rust infection in an one acre of a farm which is worrisome," she added.
Yellow rust has attacked wheat crop in 8 villages in Yamunanagar in Haryana and 5 villages in Hoshiarpur and Ropar districts of Punjab in past few days.
Earlier, this disease was restricted to a farm in Yamunanagar.
Wheat growers should now remain vigilant and take adequate steps on immediate basis to prevent further spread of the disease.
"Farmers whose crop is now 40 days old should regularly monitor their crop. If they find yellowish colour on the crop they should immediately report it to nearby farm officer and spray chemicals to get rid of ir," she said.
Sharma insisted that the current weather conditions were quite conducive for the spread of disease on the crop.
The disease, if not contained now, can spread from unrecommended varieties to even recommended varieties of wheat which could have adverse impact on overall yield, she said.
Yellow rust is a fungal disease which turns crop's leaves into yellowish colour and stops the photosynthesis activity.
The disease appears as yellow coloured, powdery linear stripes on the leaves. When touched with fingers the yellow coloured spore mass sticks to the fingers, which is a conspicuous criteria for disease identification.
Punjab and Haryana have 38 lakh hectares and 25 lakh hectares of area, respectively, under wheat in current rabi season.
