Five scientists’ teams to monitor yellow rust

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 21

Keeping in mind the expected occurrence of yellow rust by December end, five teams of scientists of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) have been constituted to monitor yellow rust.

Yellow rust is a fungal disease that attacks leaves of wheat crop by forming yellow stripes during December-February and affects their photosynthesis activity, causing shrivelling of grain size .

“The teams have started working and they have taken a round of Haryana, Punjab, UP, Rajasthan, HP, and Jammu and Kashmir to take a stock of the situation. No case of yellow rust has been reported so far in the region,” said Dr GP Singh, Director, IIWBR.

He said yellow rust appeared during December end and they had taken the initiative early to avoid its occurrence. The scientists also interacted with farmers to spread awareness about yellow rust.

“Last year, around 10 cases were reported in Yamunanagar, Karnal, Punjab, UP and HP. This year also there is less possibility of the occurrence of yellow rust. But, we cannot take risk as it hampers the production,” said Dr Singh.

He said the team members would take samples of the infested crop to determine the type of pathogen.

“During the last season, we had witnessed a bumper wheat production of 98.38 MT surpassing the previous production of 95.6 MT. This year we are expecting more than 100 MT production of wheat across the country,” he said.

He said the current conditions were conducive for wheat crop.

What yellow rust is 

Yellow rust is a fungal disease that attacks leaves of wheat crop by forming yellow stripes during December-February and affects their photosynthesis activity, causing shrivelling of grain size