09-08-2013, 04:51 PM
Management of yellow rust of wheat through trainings and demonstrations-a peep into the saga of success
ABSTRACT
Yellow rust or stripe rust is a fungal disease caused by Puccinia striiformis which manifests as powdery yellow stripes on wheat leaves. These stripes hinder photosynthesis, make the grains shrivel and stunt growth of the plant and can cause damage to the extent of 20-40 per cent in grain yield. Low temperature combined with rains during wheat growing season aid the growth and spread of the disease. It is a serious disease which has been threatening wheat cultivation in the district Kathua in the past few years. Yellow rust has caused substantial losses in the initial years of its spread in the region. In order to contain this disease from becoming an epidemic, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kathua organised district wide awareness campaigns, specialized training programmes during every rabi season and blew alarm to provide impetus for the preparedness to combat this malady. A number of On Farm Trials (OFTs) were conducted in various wheat growing pockets of district Kathua in order to evaluate, refine and validate the existing technologies to contain the yellow rust. Several method demonstrations on spray the wheat crop with Propiconazole (Tilt) 25 EC @ 0.1 per cent were conducted and farmers were told that spray of Propiconazole 25 EC (Tilt 25 EC) @ 0.1per cent, on appearance of yellow rust on the crop, not only check further spread of disease but also provide protection against powdery mildew and Karnal bunt disease. Besides this, farmers were advised to treat the wheat seed with Tebuconazole 2DS (Raxil) @ 1.0 gm/kg of wheat seed, use resistant wheat varieties and adopt timely sowing. Constant monitoring was done in villages through farmer-participatory scouting. A vigil was kept about the course of spread of yellow rust in wheat growing areas of the district worked wonder in containing yellow rust in the district.