Sirsa, September 6
Cotton crop in the north belt of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan is under serious threat from an enemy that has re-emerged after a break of one year.

After a brief respite to farmers for an year, Cotton Leaf Curl Virus Disease (CLCuD) has resurfaced on the cotton crops this year.

Though the prevalence of the virus that affects production of cotton greatly by damaging leaves in cotton plants is still lesser than what it was in 2009-10 and 2010-11, the reappearance of the disease in the current 2012-13 kharif season after an interval of one year has worried farmers.

Though the occurrence of the disease is all over Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Srigangananar in Rajasthan, Fazilka and Abohar belt of Punjab and surrounding areas of Haryana are said to the worst-hit areas this year.

“The prevalence of the disease is in moderate form,” said Dr Dilip Monga, Head of the regional station of the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) at Sirsa - an institute catering to the needs of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. The three states count for about 12 per cent of the country’s total cotton production. Out of the total 121 lakh-odd hectares under cultivation of cotton last year, 16.95 lakh hectare was from Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

“The CLCuD is an area specific disease and in India, it is found only in these three states,” said Dr Monga, who recently read his papers on the issue in the World Cotton Research Conference held in Mumbai and All-India Coordinated Cotton Improvement Project meeting in Hyderabad.

The initiation of the disease is characterised by small vein thickening (SVT) type symptoms on young upper leaves of plants. Upward/downward leaf curling followed by formation of cup shaped leaf laminar out growth of veinal tissue on the abaxial side of the leaves is other important symptom. In severe cases, reduction of internodal length leading to stunting and reduced flowering/fruiting is also noted.

“The leaf curl was first noticed in our neighbouring country Pakistan in 1967 from which it has been assumed to have travelled to India near Sriganganagar in Rajasthan through vector white fly. Cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD), after its first report in 1989 and subsequently its appearance in patches around Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan in 1993, has spread to entire north India in a short span of 4-5 years,” Dr Monga explained.

Apart from cotton, the virus can infect several collateral and alternate hosts as well as weeds that act as source of primary inoculums for its spread from one season to the other by its vector i.e whitefly.

This year, the weather and other factors that prevailed in the cotton-growing region till date are being studied to understand the reason behind the outbreak, Dr Monga said

The CICR, he said, had prepared maps of the prevalence of the CLCuD in the area and the disease, which though not in alarming proportion, has already hit in a moderate form.

He said an effective management of this important disease is possible by development of resistant varieties, suppression of whitefly and eradication of weed hosts carrying the virus.

Ravi Punia, Joint Director (Cotton) Agriculture Department, Haryana, while admitting the presence of the disease, maintained that the infection was at scattered places and it is not a cause for worry so far.