Agri dept on alert as yellow rust detected in K’shetra
Officials tell farmers not to panic; so far, the fungal disease has affected around 20 acres of crop
KARNAL: The detection of yellow rust on wheat crop in Kurukshetra district has caused a threat to wheat growers of the state, as they were expecting a bumper crop this year.
As per officials in the state agriculture department, yellow rust on the crop was reported from several villages of the district. So far, the fungal disease has affected around 20 acres of standing crop in Sunarion, Dhaniram Jattan, Kalal Majra, Gadli and Morthala villages of the district.
As per reports by the department, the disease attack has affected three acres of Ratan Lal of Sunarion village. However, the officials have advised the farmers not to panic as the disease outbreak, they said, was under control.
“Yellow rust has been detected in some villages of Kurukshetra district but there is no need to panic as the weather conditions are now in favour and the disease can be prevented from spreading further,” said Karam Chand, deputy director of Haryana agriculture department.
Dr Hari Om of Krishi Vigyan Kendra Kurukshetra also said that the present weather was helpful in checking the disease from spreading further as yellow rust is a fungal disease that spreads in humid weather.
Officials explained that if the temperature remains between 15°C and 20°C with humidity above 80%, it helps yellow rust to spread.
However, experts said that this period was very crucial for the crop as generally, temperature fluctuates during this period and humidity remains high in the first week of March and the fungal disease spreads.
Aditya Pratap, deputy director of agriculture in Karnal, said that the disease was not reported in the district yet.
“The farmers are now fully aware of the control and symptoms of the disease and prepared to prevent crop damage from yellow rust,” he said.
Meanwhile, the development has worried the farmers as they were expecting a bumper crop this year, due to favourable weather since the sowing of the crop in October.
Farmers fear that if the disease spread, it may result in increase in production cost as farmers have to use fungicides to control the disease. The officials of the state agriculture department have set a target of wheat production this year at 114 lakh MT from about 25.50 lakh hectares under wheat crop in the state this year.