Avoid unnecessary spraying to check stunted paddy: PAU

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 1

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) scientists have called upon paddy growers to not unnecessarily spray agro-chemicals on paddy to control the dwarfing disease which was recently detected.

“As there is no controlling measures for the disease, farmers are advised not to spray any agro-chemical. Once stunted, the disease can’t be managed with any of the agro-chemicals,” said PAU Vice Chancellor Dr SS Gosal.

The farmers should not worry as the healthy plants will not be affected by the virus now. The disease has appeared more in paddy planted before June 25. —Dr KS Suri, Principal entomologist, PAU

Balwant Singh, a farmer from a village near Koom Kalan, said he had sprayed zinc-fortified urea in his field after he saw stunted growth of some plants. “Instead of showing improvement, the plants turned yellow and showed no improvement,” he said.

The disease has appeared for the first time in Punjab due to the Southern Rice Black-Streaked Dwarf Virus (SRBSDV) and as per the latest survey conducted by the PAU, stunted plants have been observed in rice and basmati fields. In some fields, some plants were dead and some were stunted with their heights remaining around half to one-third as compared to the normal ones.

Dr KS Suri, Principal Entomologist, PAU, said the farmers should not worry as the healthy plants won’t be affected now and the disease had appeared more in paddy planted before June 25, than after. According to some scientific reports, SRBSDV is transmitted by nymphs and adults of Whitebacked Planthopper (WBPH).

Since WBPH could spread this disease, the paddy fields should be monitored every week and on the appearance of WBPH, any of the insecticides such as Pexalon 10 SC (triflumezopyrim) @ 94 ml/acre or Osheen/Token 20 SG (dinotefuran) @ 80 g/acre or Chess 50 WG (pymetrozine) @ 120 g/acre should be sprayed by dissolving in 100 litres of water, he advised.

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#Agriculture #Punjab Agricultural University PAU