Farm university forms team to monitor spread of yellow rust

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 20

Two days after The Tribune published a report on yellow rust affecting over 8,000 hectares of wheat crop in the Jammu region, Vice Chancellor of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, KS Risam constituted a special team of scientists that visited the affected areas.

A SKUAST official said, “A team comprising senior plant pathologists and breeders was constituted by the Vice Chancellor to ascertain the occurrence of yellow rust in wheat crop after The Tribune highlighted the issue and problems faced by the farmers.”

“Prof VK Razdan, Prof Bikram Singh, Amrish Vaid and MK Pandey accompanied by the officers of the department of agriculture visited the affected areas in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts,” says a statement issued by SKUAST-Jammu. The fungal disease was observed primarily in those areas where there was high humidity and low temperature. At some places, the team observed yellowing of the leaves due to the chlorosis due to the prolonged stagnation of water in the fields.

“To control the spread of disease, timely cultivation of recommended varieties should be carried out. There should be strict monitoring of the crop for yellow rust after 40 days of sowing and timely spray of propiconazole and tebuconazole at the appearance of early symptoms,” the statement added.