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| AGRICULTURE TRIBUNE | Monday, September 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India |
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Black rot in summer cabbage and cauliflower Utilisation of resources in farm sector
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Black rot in summer cabbage and cauliflower HIMACHAL Pradesh is well known as a seed industry of the late cauliflower and cabbage varieties and is also famous for off-season production of cabbage and cauliflower. These crops belong to the cole group of the family cruciferae and occupy the top position in respect of area. These are rich source of vitamins A and C and minerals like phosphorus, potassium, sodium and iron. The production of cauliflower seed of late varieties has attained a great importance in Solan, Kulu, Shimla, Sirmaur and Bilaspur districts mainly because of high returns from these crops resulting in improving the socio-economic status of the people. The Saproon valley in Solan, Bara Gaon at Katrain in Kulu, and the Pachhad area in Sirmaur offers the most congenial climate for seed production of late varieties of cauliflower as temperature during seed crop growth seldom above 30°C and irrigation water is in plenty. The dry temperature climate of Kalpa in Kinnaur is well suited for the production of cabbage seed. Cabbage and cauliflower as vegetables crops are grown in the state on 1,960 and 1,000 ha with a production of 53,000 and 18,400 tonnes, respectively. Cabbage is grown for the thickened main bud called head. Theog area of Shimla district is a leading supplier of these vegetable to the adjoining states of northern India during the summer and rainy seasons. The produce i.e. curds and heads of cauliflower and cabbage, respectively, is marketed from May to mid-August, thus, fetching remunerative prices to the farmers. In this part of the district, cabbage and cauliflower cultivation has gained further momentum with the introduction of high yielding varieties as well as their ability to withstand transportation hazards because of their compact heads or curds. Few diseases have been noticed during the recent past in some localities of Shimla district, which concerned the growers of cabbage and cauliflower. Among these, black rot — a bacterial disease — was found to occur in Theog, Sandhu, Lafoo ghati, Matiyana and Shilaroo localities of the district, which ultimately lead to yield losses by affecting the curd as well as head development of these cole crops. Bharti, Saint and Bajrang hybrids in cabbage and Shweta and Ujwala in cauliflower were among the most commonly affected ones. Symptoms of the disease often appear along the margin of the leaves as chlorotic which progress in the direction of midrib forming ‘V’ shaped area with its base towards midrib. The veins of the leaves in the affected areas turn black. There is premature leaf fall due to the formation of abscission layer. The infection extends through the xylem to the stalk and vascular bundles turn black. Systemic infection during storage often renders the product unmarketable. The disease is caused by bacterium, Xanthomonas, campestris pv. campestris. Primarily the pathogen is seed borne in nature. It can also survive in diseased plant debris left in the field for at least a year and in the surviving wild and cultivated plants of crucifers. Germinating infected seeds serve as the primary source of inoculum. Bacteria generally enter the cotyledons through stomata at the marginal sinus and pass from the cotyledons to the young leaves and progress systemically throughout the plant. Bacterial penetration may take place from infested soil through wounded and unwounded roots. The chief means of local transmission in the field is by moist wind, rain splashes and cultural practices. Insects are also known to play an important role in local transmission. It develops most rapidly between 26 to 30° C. Heavy rainfall is favourable to the bacterium and further spread is by the splashing raindrops. The authors while surveying the Theog area observed the disease occurrence as a result of poor sanitation practices. The farmers while harvesting the cabbage and cauliflower kept the chopped leaves in the same field, which allowed the infected leaves to decompose in the same field as a result of which the inoculum build-up took place and this also helped in over wintering of the pathogen. It was further observed that there were heavy rains during this period, which helped in splashing of inoculum to the plants leading to disease appearance in severe form. The growers of the locality have been advised to follow the following management practices. — As the pathogen is internally seed borne, hot water treatment for 30 minutes at 52°C followed by 30 minutes dip in Streptocycline (100 ppm) solution has been found satisfactory and recommended for the management of this disease. The treatment is usually done free of cost in the Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, or may be undertaken by the growers themselves depending upon the facility available for the seed treatment. — Crop
rotation and changing the fields to cereals or other vegetables except cole crops for at least two years is imperative to avoid soil sickness conditions. — The growers must collect and bury the diseased debris in the pits at one corner of the field, which will check the inoculum build-up and spread. — Application of pine needle mulch has also been found effective in reducing the severity of this disease. It avoids the splashing of infected soil to the plants in rainy season, besides conserving the moisture in the field. — The disease must be kept below the economic threshold level by spraying the crop with the mixture of Streptocycline (100 ppm) and Indofil M-45 (0.25%) at an interval of 7-10 days depending on the severity of the disease. |
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Utilisation
of resources in farm sector THE Central Government has taken a major step towards achieving decentralisation in pursuance of restoring primacy of states in agricultural development planning by integrating various centrally sponsored schemes. This is expected to overcome the problem of unspent balances under the individual schemes in the previous pattern and to help in affective and full utilisation of resources in the agriculture sector. Under the new scheme entitled “macro-management of agriculture — scheme for supplementation /complementation of states efforts to work plans”, the Central Government has decided to move away from a schematic approach to macro-management mode by integrating 27 centrally sponsored schemes. The previous pattern of rigid uniformly structured centrally sponsored schemes, permitting little or no flexibility, which resulted in large unutilised balances with states has been dispensed with, according to the annual report (2000-2001) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Integration of centrally sponsored schemes under the macro-management approach is believed to enhance the productivity of support programmes and accord greater flexibility to state governments to develop and pursue activities on the basis of regional priorities. The following 27 centrally sponsored schemes have been brought under the macro-management mode: Assistance to cooperatives, Assistance to women cooperatives, non-overdue cover scheme, agriculture credit stabilisation fund, special scheme for SC/ST, integrated cereal development programmes in rice based cropping system areas, integrated cereal development programmes in wheat based cropping system areas, integrated cereal development programmes in coarse cereal-based cropping system areas, special jute development programme, sustainable development of sugarcane-based cropping system areas, balanced and integrated use of fertiliser, promotion of agricultural mechanisation among small farmers, integrated development of tropical arid and temperate zone fruits, production and supply of vegetables seeds development of commercial floriculture, development of medicinal and aromatic plants, development of roots and tuber crops, development of cocoa and cashew, integrated programme for development of spices, development of mushroom, use of plastics in agriculture, bee keeping, national watershed development project for rainfed areas, scheme for foundation and certified seed production of vegetables crops, soil conservation in catchments of river valley projects and flood-prone rivers, reclamation and development of alkali soils and state land use boards. It is, thus, a major step towards achieving decentralisation in pursuance of restoring primacy of states in the agricultural development planning. The Central Government will supplement/complement the state governments’ efforts through regionally differentiated work plans comprising crop/area/target/group specific interventions, formulated in an interaction mode and implemented in spirit of partnership with the states. The outlay of work plans will be shared by the Centre and the states in the ratio of 90:10, while in the case of north-eastern states, the entire expenditure will be borne by the Central Government. The central assistance for work plans will be in ratio of 80 per cent grants and 20 per cent loans. Allocation for central ministries/organisations/institutes under the macro-management scheme will be separated before devolving funds to the states. During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, the states have been directed that the expenditure on new initiates should not be more than 10 per cent. The macro-management scheme is expected to overcome the problem of unspent balances under the individual scheme in the previous pattern and to help in effective and full utilisation of resources in the agricultural sector. The proposed approach interalia, says the report, will lead to reflection of local needs/priorities in the planning of agricultural development, optimum utilisation of scare financial resources, maximisation of returns and removal of regional imbalances. |
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Farm operations for September Horticultural operations: — The newly planted fruit plants are very tender and, therefore, operations like irrigation, removal of stock sprouts, training, staking and plant protection measures should be undertaken with extreme care. — For checking pre-harvest fruit drop. Spray the trees with 10 ppm of 2, 4-D and 0.55 zinc sulphate. For spraying one acre of citrus orchard 6 g of 2, 4-D and 3 kg of zinc sulphate is dissolved in 550 litres of water. For the control of pathological fruit drop in citrus, spraying the trees with 20 g of Aureofungin in 500 litres of water or Bavistin 500 in 500 litres of water during this month. — In citrus, leaf miner and whitefly/psylla can be checked by spraying 625 ml Nuvacron 36 SL or 670 ml of Rogor 30 EC in 500 litres of water per acre. To check withertip or die back and melanose or stem-end rot diseases, spray the plants with Bordeaux mixture 2:2:250 or 3.3 per cent copper oxychloride. —In grapes, for the control of anthracnose disease, spray the vines with Bavistin @400 g/400 litres of water in the beginning of September and again spray the vines with Bordeaux Mixture @ 2:2:250 in mid-September for the control of downy mildew. Give on pinching of Anab-E. Shahi variety of grapes having luxurient growth during this month. — To ber plants give first spray at flowering with Karathane 50 to 80 ml in 100 litres of water for the control of powedery mildew. — To control insect in ber, spray 250 ml Rogor in 250 litres of water during this month. For the control of leaf spot in ber, spray the trees with Bordeaux mixture 2:2:250 or with 0.3 per cent Copper Oxychloride. — If there is an attack of mangoscab, the mango trees should be sprayed with 1.25 litres of Basudin (diazinon) or 300 ml of methyl-parathion in 500 litres of water. — To full grown Loquat trees apply 50 kg FYM along with 2 kg of superphosphate, 1.5 kg of Muriate of potash in this month. — Progressive Farming, PAU |
